Naseej aims to move the sector beyond linear consumption and disposal toward an integrated model that preserves resources, captures economic value, and aligns its sustainability goals with long-term national development.

In this phase of the strategy, the Foundation is focused on real-world implementation. This includes engaging more directly with projects on the ground across three missions — plastics and packaging, critical minerals, and fashion and textiles — that create learnings to help scale circular economy solutions.

The collaboration the foundation with the UAE, where they will identify policy instruments to support circular economy outcomes, is an example of this approach.

The Foundation brings directly relevant global experience to this collaboration, including a central role in shaping the EU Textile Strategy and EPR design across multiple jurisdictions. The foundation will now bring this expertise to the Gulf context, as well as the expertise of the Network, surfacing insights on the opportunities and challenges of circular implementation in the fashion and textiles industry in the UAE and beyond.

Jocelyn Bleriot, Policy and Institutions Executive Lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said: “The UAE occupies an important place in global textile flows, notably as a re-export and trade hub. Such a position offers a significant opportunity to put the country's circular economy ambitions into practice. A successful policy framework in the UAE has the potential to serve as a replicable model for other countries in the Gulf and the wider Global South, where circular economy policy potential for textiles remains untapped.”