Oman

Oman entered the sustainability-disclosure arena later than most of its neighbours, but it has made up ground quickly. A smaller, less capital-rich economy than the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Qatar, it has chosen to differentiate through green hydrogen and a clear regulatory push rather than through sheer financial scale.

The market is best characterised as emerging but accelerating. The Muscat Stock Exchange has moved to require ESG disclosure from listed companies, the Central Bank of Oman has issued sustainable-finance guidance for banks, and these sit alongside a national net-zero commitment - a striking amount of institution-building in a short window.

The strategic frame is Oman Vision 2040, the country's economic-diversification blueprint, within which sustainability and clean energy are treated as engines of future growth and employment rather than only as compliance obligations.

The most consequential regulatory move is at the exchange level. The Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) has introduced ESG disclosure requirements for listed companies, shifting the market toward mandatory, comply-or-explain-style reporting - a notable step for a market at Oman's stage of development and one that distinguishes it from the purely voluntary regimes elsewhere in the region.

Oversight of the capital market and insurance sector now rests with the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which succeeded the former Capital Market Authority. On the banking side, the Central Bank of Oman has issued sustainable-finance guidance, embedding climate and ESG considerations into financial-sector expectations.

The overall architecture is young but purposeful: rather than layering voluntary guidance for years, Oman has moved relatively quickly to put disclosure obligations and sustainable-finance expectations in place, even as assurance and data practices are still catching up.

Oman Vision 2040 provides the strategic umbrella, prioritising economic diversification away from oil, private-sector growth and environmental sustainability. Within it, clean energy - and green hydrogen in particular - is positioned as a flagship future industry.

The country announced a net-zero-by-2050 target in 2022, supported by an Oman Sustainability Centre and a national programme to coordinate the transition. This places Oman among the more ambitious Gulf states on headline timing, alongside the UAE, and ahead of the 2060 dates adopted by several neighbours.

The defining bet is green hydrogen. Through Hydrom, the state has run structured land auctions for very large-scale green-hydrogen projects, aiming to make Oman one of the world's leading exporters of green hydrogen and derivatives by mid-century - an ambition that ties the net-zero agenda directly to economic development.

Corporate disclosure is at an early stage but improving under regulatory pressure. The move toward mandatory MSX reporting is prompting listed companies to build ESG-reporting capability where little existed before, though the depth and comparability of that reporting is still developing.

The largest energy, banking and industrial entities are furthest along, while smaller listed companies are earlier in the process. Assurance and robust data infrastructure remain the weakest links, consistent with a market that has adopted obligations ahead of the capacity to fully meet them - a common pattern in fast-moving emerging regimes.

Sustainable finance is nascent but supported at the policy level. The Central Bank of Oman's sustainable-finance guidance is steering banks toward incorporating climate risk, and the green-hydrogen agenda is expected to draw significant project and green finance into the country over the coming years.

Given the scale of planned hydrogen and renewables investment relative to the size of the economy, sustainable and project finance is likely to become a proportionally important part of Oman's capital markets, potentially outsized for a market of its size.

Decarbonisation effort concentrates on power, oil and gas, and the new clean-energy industries. Renewable projects such as the Ibri and Manah solar plants and the Dhofar wind farm are expanding the power mix, while the oil and gas sector works on flaring reduction and efficiency.

The green-hydrogen build-out in areas such as Duqm and Dhofar is the transformational element, intended to create an export-oriented clean-molecule industry. Success would reposition Oman's economy around the energy transition rather than merely mitigating its existing emissions.

Oman's constraints are primarily capacity and capital. As a smaller economy with tighter fiscal space, it must attract substantial external investment to realise its hydrogen ambitions, and it must build ESG-reporting and assurance capability quickly to match the obligations it has adopted.

The gap between the pace of regulation and the maturity of corporate practice is the central execution risk: mandatory disclosure only delivers value if the underlying data and assurance are credible. Bridging that gap is the near-term priority.

Expect continued acceleration. As MSX disclosure requirements bed in, reporting breadth and quality should rise, and progress on flagship green-hydrogen projects will shape both the investment story and the credibility of the net-zero pathway.

For companies, Oman is a market where ESG reporting is becoming a near-term compliance requirement rather than a future aspiration. Building genuine data capability now is the sensible response to a fast-moving regime.