Jordan’s engineering sector expanded by 19.2 p.c in 2023, making it the nation’s second-fastest rising industrial phase.
Regardless of contributing simply 5 p.c of GDP and 4.1 p.c of producing exports, its speedy development has drawn consideration as a possible linchpin for Jordan’s transition towards greener, extra resilient industrial practices. The EU-funded Inexperienced Ahead Trade (GFI) undertaking, launched in partnership with UNIDO, the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Provide, the Ministry of Atmosphere, and Jordan’s Royal Scientific Society (RSS), goals to embed round economic system fashions into this dynamic sector—to enhance useful resource effectivity, scale back environmental impacts, and sharpen competitiveness in exterior markets.
But translating development into sustainable industrial efficiency poses a number of obstacles. One quick problem is the readiness of small and medium-sized engineering companies to undertake new design, remanufacturing, and resource-efficiency practices. Many lack entry to inexperienced finance, each when it comes to capital and favorable phrases, and infrequently face technical constraints linked to current tools, waste dealing with, and power prices. Regulatory and coverage frameworks are supportive in rhetoric however uneven in execution, with pilot programmes and mapping research previous pilot tasks quite than large-scale roll-out.
The GFI undertaking, operating till 2028, plans to bridge a few of these gaps. Its first part entails a sectoral mapping train, led by RSS, to establish worth chain segments with the best circularity potential—areas the place water and power use, waste technology, and design inefficiencies are notably giant. Based mostly on these findings, pilot enterprise fashions will likely be launched in early 2026 specializing in lowering waste, power and water footprints, and enhancing materials reuse. Help for SMEs contains technical help, capability improvement, and steerage in securing inexperienced finance.
Historic precedents comparable to Jordan’s participation within the EU-funded SwitchMed programme have contributed learnings about integrating circularity into SMEs: good points in export competitiveness, innovation in design, and small reductions in environmental externalities. However scaling these successes depends closely on systemic enablers. Efficient regulation, requirements, enforcement, and high quality management are wanted, particularly if remanufactured, reused, or round merchandise are going to be accepted in regional and international provide chains. Infrastructure, notably in waste sorting, power effectivity retrofits, water recycling, and materials restoration, will want funding past what many SMEs can muster themselves.
One other dimension is workforce capability. To deploy round fashions at scale, companies will want staff with expertise in industrial design for reuse, sustainable supplies, life cycle evaluation, remanufacturing, and inexperienced finance negotiation. Jordan’s current expertise improvement programmes are related however have to be tailor-made across the engineering sector’s evolving wants—each technological and regulatory.
Lastly, competitiveness in regional/international markets relies upon not solely on value effectivity however on avoiding dependencies in uncooked materials importation and power. Round fashions can supply value financial savings by way of useful resource reuse, decrease waste disposal prices, and improved power/water use—however solely the place value constructions, provide chain linkages, and regulatory consistency permit. The GFI undertaking’s intention to strengthen native resilience, scale back dependencies, and enhance exports displays that twin economic-environmental crucial.
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