Greenpeace MENA’s Green Mosques Report

Empowering Community-Led Sustainable Solutions Around the World

Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa works with the Ummah for Earth alliance to address the urgent challenges facing our world to empower communities, especially those at the front lines of the climate crisis, to take more initiative and lead the way towards a green and just transition to a sustainable world. 

As we endeavour to amplify Muslim voices within the broader climate movement, we also seek opportunities to demonstrate the value of promoting and enabling community-led solutions. Solutions and initiatives that can serve as an example to others around the world, and catalyse the changes we are all working to manifest. 

This report shows the potential that local communities and public places of worship have, to be part of the solution not only through the direct environmental benefits but also because of their potential to influence people as centres of culture, spirituality and community life. They are an expression of the willingness of Muslims and religious leaders to be part of the climate solution!

The report represents the first step of a journey of a thousand miles. It began with a big idea and some questions: what if all mosques in the world were equipped with solar energy systems? How could that be achieved? What impact would it have on the communities these centers of worship serve? How will it help mitigate the effects of climate change? What if this had a domino effect on all public buildings and buildings of worship around the world?

With these questions in mind, we took the first step by selecting ten mosques from around the world that can serve as examples, and commissioned a detailed technical analysis of the feasibility and impact of installing solar energy systems at the sites. The report was developed by a team from the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, in collaboration with The Lebanese Foundation for Renewable Energy and the National Council for Scientific Research.

Our hope is for this report to be an inspiration, and for this initiative to instigate a domino effect of green mosques and buildings. Grand ideas can be turned into physical realities, especially when we can muster our collective passion, solidarity, and conviction to achieve them.