UAE district cooling: Capacity growth set to continue

Research evidence excerpt

UAE district cooling: Capacity growth set to continue

8 July 2026

UAE district cooling EquitiesUtilities

Capacity growth set to continue United Arab Emirates

◆ Consumption intensity could weaken in 2026, but connected Ildar Khaziev*, CFA

capacity growth should remain robust in 2026-27 Senior EM Oil & Gas and Utilities Analyst HSBC Bank plc

ildar.khaziev@hsbc.com

◆ Capital costs inflation could be an issue though +44 20 7992 3302

Lilyanna Yang, CFA

◆ Maintain Buy rating on Empower, upgrade Tabreed to Buy Analyst, LatAm Oil & Gas, Utilities, Petrochems

HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.

(from Hold); maintain target prices for both companies lilyanna.yang@us.hsbc.com

+1 212 525 0990

Capacity growth set to continue, but consumption intensity could weaken in 2026. StephenGlobal HeadBramley-Jackson*of Real Estate Research

Not surprisingly, new real estate project launches have weakened, with no contract HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, Dubai branch

stephen.bramley-jackson@hsbc.com

awards in Abu Dhabi and a 33% yoy decline in the net value of projects awarded in +971 4 423 6903

Dubai during 2Q26, according to preliminary MEED Projects data. Having said that, a Kaushik Gopalakrishnan*

very strong 1Q26, along with projects in the bid evaluation phase could keep new project Associate

Bangalore

launches stable yoy in Abu Dhabi in 2026. In Dubai, we do not expect the same, based

on the current tender pipeline and given the very strong base in 2H25 (also see MENAT

* Employed by a non-US affiliate of HSBC Securities (USA) Inc, and is

Real Estate Trends (May): Dubai prices soften and rents fall faster; Abu Dhabi diverges, not registered/ qualified pursuant to FINRA regulations

17 Jun 2026). For the district cooling sector, therefore, this implies a likely steady growth