First Abu Dhabi Bank’s (FAB) case for the Middle East award rests on volume, breadth and a growing capacity to act as sustainability coordinator across the region’s most complex transactions.
In 2025, the bank facilitated more than $31.1 billion in sustainable finance across 53-plus transactions, with the majority concentrated in MENA. It has now surpassed 75% of its AED500 billion ($136 billion) 2030 target, itself an 80% increase on the original commitment made at COP28 in 2023.
League table data underlines the regional dominance. FAB ranked first in EMEA for green loan use-of-proceeds volume as sustainability structuring agent, according to Bloomberg, with $4.8 billion across nine transactions. Globally, FAB ranked 11th on both Refinitiv and Dealogic’s sustainable coordinator tables by deal count, placing it alongside the major international investment banks it increasingly competes with for regional mandates.
The $31.1 billion breaks across product lines: $15.4 billion in green, social and sustainable financings; $12.7 billion in sustainability-linked loans (SLLs); $2.8 billion in sustainable trade finance; and $90 million in blue loans. Coverage spanned transportation, financial institutions, real estate, retail, energy and manufacturing, as well as sovereign counterparties – a spread that reflects FAB’s position as the UAE’s largest bank and its ability to originate across sectors.
Globally, FAB ranked 11th on both Refinitiv and Dealogic’s sustainable coordinator tables by deal count, placing it alongside the major international investment banks it increasingly competes with for regional mandates
The quality of the deal flow is as important as the volume. FAB acted as sole underwriter, mandated lead arranger, bookrunner and green loan coordinator on the public investment fund PIF 6 Solar PV (photovoltaic) financing – a $4.5 billion non-recourse facility supporting the development of five solar projects in Saudi Arabia with a combined capacity of 12GW. FAB underwrote $1.2 billion of the facility, which was oversubscribed by global banks and aligned with the Loan Market Association (LMA) Green Loan Principles. The deal ranks among the largest renewable energy financings in the region and is a direct contribution to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 clean energy targets.
In November 2025, FAB acted as sole green coordinator on ADNOC’s $2 billion K-Sure term loan, with proceeds directed to eligible green projects under ADNOC’s Sustainable Finance Framework. FAB also served as sole sustainable finance framework adviser to ADNOC on that transaction. Separately, it structured Aldar’s $2.45 billion sustainability-linked revolving credit facility (RCF) – the largest sustainability-linked syndicated RCF in Middle East real estate – acting as SLL structuring bank. The Africa Finance Corporation’s inaugural AED937 million SLL, where FAB was sole sustainability coordinator, bookrunner and mandated lead arranger, extended the bank’s reach beyond the Gulf into broader EMEA-facing mandates.
On the capital markets side, FAB issued what it describes as the first blue bond by a financial institution in the Gulf region – a HKD390 million instrument – alongside a $20 million follow-on. In September 2025, it priced a $750 million low-carbon energy bond to finance nuclear power generation, described as the first of its kind globally.
ESG governance supports the commercial activity. FAB holds an MSCI ESG rating of AA and ranks in the top 6% of banks globally by Refinitiv ESG score. It co-chairs the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) MENA chapter, is a member of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), and delivered mandatory ESG training group-wide in 2025.
