Sustainability & Climate Action

The Sustainability & Climate Action Program is the epicenter of the Hariri Foundation’s efforts to promote sustainable green transitions. For decades, the foundation has conducted in-depth diagnosis of urban and environmental landscapes, aligning local and global frameworks of sustainable urban development and deriving localized policies. Since its inception, the Hariri Foundation has pioneered a set of place-based megaprojects of urban renewal, at the levels of housing, infrastructure, and the preservation of heritage sites. In recent years, urban development initiatives have gone greener, involving a set of scalable green experiments and action plans. Strategically, the program advances global and local strategies of climate action and sustainable urban governance through multi-level and multisectoral communities of practice. The foundation encourages those communities to adopt green practices and sustainable behaviors through awareness campaigns and educational programs. It promotes environmental stewardship by highlighting the benefits of sustainability and the importance of preserving natural resources.

Cultural Preservation

Commencing first in 1982, the Hariri Foundation has carried out tens of architectural restoration projects for 29 key historical and heritage sites of cultural, social, and religious significance across Lebanon as well as 2000 residential units in Saida’s historic district. Those interventions came as a response to the physical destruction of thsoe sites due to wars and natural disasters and in aim to increase their competitiveness as global destinations of cultural and religious tourism. The Hariri Foundation acquired the Aga Khan Prize for Urban Restoration for Saida’s Grand Omari Mosque Restoration Project.

How It All Started

Pioneering in Urban Planning

Completing the heritage preservation of sites, the Hariri Foundation accelerated operations for the urban renewal of Saida, mainly for the removal of building debris as well as the physical development, restoring and upgrading of urban facilities and infrastructural networks.

This positioned the city at the frontier of Urban Preservation and Sustainability within Lebanon and the Middle East, expediting dialogues and exchanges across the region, paving the way for “Third International Conference on Small Historic Coastal Cities” in Saida along with UNESCO in 2001.

Sustainable Coastal Cities

The conference on Small Historic Cities, was part of the Social Transformation Management Program for research on city-related issues, particularly sustainable civil development of coastal areas. The ultimate objective of the conference was to advance research on sustainable urban development of coastal areas and to develop partnerships among coastal municipalities to address shared challenges.

And hence, the story of urban and sustainable transformations started…

Stewardship for Sustainability

At the Hariri Foundation, we position human capital and community stewardship at the core of sustainable transition efforts ensuring that environmental agendas are only promoted through the empowerment and engagement of multi-disciplinary communities of practice, with a principle of leaving no one behind.

Whether as beneficiaries, designers, or partners, well-equipped communities remain the perfect investment for the sustainability of our natural resources and the larger environment.