INSIDE ACWA POWER’S CSR PLAYBOOK: FROM THE BOARDROOM TO HISTORIC AL-BALAD
PT. Mitra Rekayasa Keberlanjutan – At the Shangri-La Jeddah, ACWA Power’s recent CSR Gathering looked less like a conference and more like a live “operating system upgrade” for its global social strategy.
Over three tightly packed days, an 11-person cohort from 11 countries met not just to talk about corporate social responsibility in Saudi Arabia, but to rehearse how it should actually work in fast-growing power and water portfolios. The format was immersive, the agenda unforgiving, and the message clear: CSR at ACWA Power is shifting from philanthropic side-stream to core management discipline.
A Lab, Not a Lecture
Source: MIREKEL Documentation
The programme opened on 21 October 2025 at 8:30 a.m. in a waterfront ballroom overlooking the Red Sea. ACWA Power’s leadership first set the scene—outlining the company’s growth, strategic bets, and risk exposure—before handing the floor to external facilitator Aldi Muhammad Alizar at 1:15 p.m. for a working session on “Integrating CSR with World Bank ESF.”
Rather than a theoretical overview, the session walked participants through practical tools drawn from the World Bank Environmental and Social Framework (ESF), translating high-level standards into everyday decisions: what to disclose, whom to engage, where to invest, and how to document impact. The tone was fast, applied, and deliberately “no-spectators.”
That evening, the cohort stepped out of the ballroom and into Al-Balad, Jeddah’s UNESCO-listed historic district. Walking through freshly restored alleyways and merchant houses, the group saw heritage conservation, tourism, and social value intersecting in real time—an on-the-ground reminder that CSR, when done well, is about shaping places and livelihoods, not just producing reports.
CSR at the Scale of a Global Utility
The urgency behind the gathering reflects ACWA Power’s growth trajectory.
By the end of 2024, the Riyadh-based developer and operator reported:
- 94 assets across 13 countries
- USD 97.2 billion in total investment
- 69.2 GW of gross power capacity
- Significant desalination capacity supporting water security
At this scale, CSR is no longer a “nice-to-have.” It sits at the intersection of risk management, license to operate, and opportunity design—from community acceptance and workforce localisation to climate resilience and biodiversity.
ACWA Power’s Integrated Annual Report 2024 signals that sustainability and CSR are now woven into strategic planning, capital allocation, and performance metrics, not parked in a separate philanthropic silo. The Jeddah gathering was one practical expression of that shift.
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Codifying the Social Strategy
ACWA Power’s social agenda has become progressively more structured and codified, anchored in several key platforms:
- A formal CSR Policy that defines scope, principles, and governance
- The People Strategy 2023–2030, aligning talent, localisation, and inclusion
- Community programmes that align with global moments such as COP16
- Long-term investment in skills and localisation via the Energy & Water Academy (EWA)
From early-career training to water-access initiatives in underserved communities, the portfolio is designed to move from intent to measurable outcomes—linking ESG narratives to tangible social value across ACWA Power’s markets.
Day 2: Where Standards Meet Reality
Source: MIREKEL Documentation
If Day 1 set the context, Day 2 (22 October) was about pressure-testing it.
The second day was built as a full practice lab with four modules:
- ESS1 Deep-Dive Lab
- ESS10 Stakeholder Engagement Workshop
- CSR–HSSE–HR Interface Lab
- Wrap & Next Steps
Participants were pushed to make trade-offs on time, scope, disclosure, and impact—the real fault lines of ESG execution.
In breakout rooms, mixed teams tackled three case studies:
- A Biodiversity Action Plan
- A CSR programme review
- An Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for a toll road
Representatives from Uzbekistan, Morocco, and Indonesia shared frontline experience on issues such as:
- How to secure meaningful community consent
- What a credible grievance mechanism looks like in practice
- Where biodiversity offsets are appropriate—and where they are not
As Alizar noted, “Co-learning like this turns standards into muscle memory. Watching ACWA’s CSR leaders stress-test ESF tools together was energising.”
Beyond Slides: From Online Primer to Site Visits
The Jeddah programme was not a standalone workshop.
- One month earlier, a 90-minute online primer aligned expectations, introduced the World Bank ESF lens, and ensured participants arrived with shared vocabulary.
- On Day 3, site visits connected classroom discussions to operating assets and community contexts, closing the loop between policy, design, and on-the-ground reality.
In a region reshaped by Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030—and in markets where infrastructure portfolios are scaling at speed—the underlying thesis was straightforward:
For ACWA Power, CSR is becoming an operating discipline, not an afterthought.
That means integrating CSR and sustainability into how projects are conceived, financed, built, and operated. It also means equipping CSR leaders with the tools to navigate frameworks like the World Bank ESF while staying grounded in community realities across diverse geographies.
From Jeddah to the Next Phase of ESG Execution
For external observers, ACWA Power’s CSR Gathering in Jeddah offers a window into how one of the region’s most prominent power and water players is upgrading its CSR and ESG strategy:
- Treating CSR gatherings as working labs, not ceremonial meetings
- Framing corporate social responsibility in Saudi Arabia within global standards and local dynamics
- Linking ACWA Power sustainability and ACWA Power ESG strategy directly to asset-level decisions and stakeholder relationships
From the boardroom to the alleyways of Al-Balad, the throughline is consistent: CSR at ACWA Power is moving closer to the core of how the business competes, scales, and sustains its social license across 13 countries and counting.
Sources:
ACWA Power Integrated Annual Report 2024;
ACWA Power Year-End Report 2024;
ACWA Power CSR & People Strategy pages;
UNESCO Al-Balad; Shangri-La Jeddah.
