Whitepaper: Industrial Symbiosis – A catalyst for sustainable special economic zone development in MENA

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and industrial parks are entering a new phase of development. For decades, zones competed primarily on cost, infrastructure access, and fiscal incentives. Today, investment decisions are increasingly shaped by sustainability performance, resource efficiency, resilience, and ESG alignment.

A new whitepaper by FEV energy+resources and NurZen explores how Industrial Symbiosis can help Special Economic Zones and industrial parks evolve into future proof ecosystems, transforming conventional industrial parks into globally competitive, ESG-compliant Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) aligned with UNIDO’s EIP Framework.

What is industrial symbiosis?

Industrial Symbiosis describes the exchange of energy, materials, water, and by-products between co-located industries, so that one facility’s residual stream becomes another’s resource. Instead of each company managing emissions, water use, and by-products in isolation, this approach connects companies through shared resource flows, infrastructure and enabling technologies (e.g., photovoltaics, battery storage, heat pumps, electrolyzer, thermal storage or gasification)

This is the operating model behind some of the world’s most studied industrial ecosystems, including Kalundborg (Denmark), Ulsan (South Korea), Rotterdam (Netherlands), and Kwinana (Australia).

These figures are drawn from techno-economic modeling benchmarked against eleven leading industrial symbiosis ecosystems worldwide.

Why this matters for SEZs in MENA

ESG-aligned criteria have become a baseline expectation for attracting foreign capital and green finance across the Gulf and North Africa. This is especially relevant for energy-intensive sectors such as refining, petrochemicals, cement, steelmaking, logistics, and utilities, where heat recovery, shared infrastructure, and carbon management create real opportunities for Industrial Symbiosis. Beyond emissions, the approach also strengthens resilience against commodity price volatility, geopolitical disruption, and climate-related supply risks.

Explore the full techno-economic model, global benchmarks, and implementation roadmap for building ESG-compliant, globally competitive Eco-Industrial Parks:

Download whitepaper