Ibrahim Kronfol

Voices of Change: Ibrahim Kronfol | LEED Fellow & Founder of Green Leaders

Ibrahim Kronfol is a sustainability leader and LEED Fellow with over two decades of experience shaping high-performance buildings and sustainable infrastructure through his work with DAR and the global green building community. He serves as Vice-Chair of the WorldGBC MENA Regional Network and founded Green Leaders, advancing climate action through innovative solutions, school sustainability awareness programs, water conservation initiatives, and youth engagement across the region.

SAWA spoke with Ibrahim in July about his path from design engineering into sustainability, building Green Leaders from the ground up, and what it takes to drive climate action across a region as varied as MENA.

SAWA: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Ibrahim: My name is Ibrahim Kronfol. I'm a mechanical engineer with over 20 years of experience. I started my career as a design engineer, and a few years in, I saw the need to transform the industry, which is when I moved further into sustainability. 

I'm based in Beirut, but I fly to the UAE roughly two weeks a month for work; I've been doing that for over 10 years now. Today, I serve as Principal and head of the design unit at DAR, Vice Chair of the MENA Regional Network at the World Green Building Council, and I'm a Board Member of the Lebanon Green Building Council and President of the AEE Lebanon Chapter. I also founded Green Leaders, an NGO, in 2023, which gives shape to my belief that sustainability can create real impact. 

My mission is to create solutions that are technically sound, economically viable, and environmentally responsive, and that drive change across the industry.

SAWA: What first drew you to the field of sustainability?

Ibrahim: I come from an engineering background, not activism, though today I'd call myself an activist too. What pulled me toward sustainability was a shift in how we approached design early in my career. I'd been working in design for four or five years when LEED started coming onto our radar. I took the initiative to get my LEED AP certification in 2009, and that changed how I thought about buildings altogether: we moved toward designing high-performance buildings that accounted for energy, water, and green building principles through the LEED framework. 

In 2020, I was honoured to become the first LEED Fellow in the MENA region, in recognition of more than 10 years of technical work and commitment to sustainability. 

I'm also involved with several professional organisations, serving as President of the AEE Lebanon Chapter, where I sit on the board, the Lebanon Green Building Council, and a Member of ASHRAE, and SAVE International, where I hold a Value Methodology Associate certification in value engineering. Bringing together engineering, sustainability, management, and value engineering is the key to delivering the best possible outcome on any project.

SAWA: You founded Green Leaders NGO to advance evidence-based climate action and youth engagement. What was the gap you saw that made you start it?

Ibrahim: Before starting Green Leaders, I'd already been volunteering since 2012 with the Centre for Green Schools at the US Green Building Council. That year, I ran our first hands-on project, a Green Apple Day of Service, at the school I graduated from in Lebanon. The following year we expanded to five schools, and over time the initiative grew internationally, with design centres across Lebanon, Dubai, Egypt, Jordan, and India. Last year, we recorded an accumulated impact on over 100,000 students.

That experience showed me the power of hands-on work with the next generation, and how it can genuinely help change the world. I wanted to shape that effort into an NGO focused on research, youth, and climate action, and that's the story behind Green Leaders. We're focused on creating real impact, not just publishing papers: we go to the ground, build partnerships, and work toward measurable outcomes. 

I also co-founded the MENA Alliance for Green Schools together with a group of Green Building Councils. My belief is that the current generation alone isn't positioned to make the changes we need, so if we empower the next one, and develop leaders, we create the conditions for real transformation. That's why we called it Green Leaders. 

Today we have a team of around 40 people, including a core group of 15 who run our sustainability programmes on water, energy, and other hands-on work with students.

SAWA: You’re Lebanese but your work spans projects across the wider region. How does that dual vantage point shape your approach to sustainability projects?

Ibrahim: When I took on the role of Vice Chair for the MENA Regional Network at the World Green Building Council, I came from the Lebanon GBC, but the role was never about representing Lebanon: it was about benefiting the whole region. That pushed me to think more broadly. 

Lebanon has taught me resiliency. Working across the Gulf has taught me scale and execution. Combining both perspectives has been incredibly valuable. I see a lot of shared challenges across the region: water scarcity especially, but also energy, urban growth, and climate resilience. Sustainability doesn't stop at borders. The region has a tremendous opportunity to learn from one another rather than reinventing solutions independently, and that collaboration is what will help us grow faster.

SAWA: What sustainability challenge are you most focused on solving right now, and where do you see the biggest gaps?

Through my work with the World GBC in the region, we're focused on climate change, with programmes like our zero-carbon and resilience delivery roadmap, and the MENA Alliance for Green Schools. We've also launched a developers' leadership forum in the UAE and Saudi Arabia to drive change from the developers' side, at scale. All of this falls under climate action and decarbonisation. 

I've also published engineering papers with ASHRAE focused on embodied carbon and refrigerants, and on more effective approaches to air conditioning systems. During my term on USGBC committees, I chaired the LEED Water Efficiency Technical Advisory Group for two years, where we ran research and master classes on water efficiency, and I was also involved in developing LEED v5 as part of that technical committee.

SAWA: What’s one world you would use to define sustainability in the MENA region?

If I had to define it for our region, I'd use two words: resiliency and opportunity. 

Resiliency, because we need to adapt to water scarcity and rapid urbanisation. There's a huge amount of development happening across MENA right now, and it's urgent that we build with resilience in mind rather than simply building fast. 

Opportunity, because I see real potential to diversify economies, build better cities, and develop local innovation. We have plenty of skilled professionals; what we need is stronger collaboration between government, the private sector, and professional organisations to turn that innovation into real implementation and policy. It's also an opportunity to empower young talent. Much of the region's infrastructure is still being built, which means we have a rare chance to build it right the first time.

SAWA: What advice would you give to young professionals in the region looking to enter your field?

Because I come from an engineering background, my first piece of advice is to build a strong technical foundation. If you understand the technical problems deeply, you'll know exactly what the right solutions are. That's how my own path went, starting from the technical side before I could really connect problems to solutions. 

After that, learn communication and leadership. As you grow into leadership, focus on collaboration: sustainability is interdisciplinary, and you need an understanding of the bigger picture, not just your own specialty. 

And stay curious. Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer, and join professional organisations: they'll build your network and your reputation on a bigger scale.

SAWA: How can people follow or support your work?

I'm personally active on LinkedIn, and so is Green Leaders. I'd really encourage young professionals and students to join professional organisations: they can genuinely help you grow and make change happen. 

I'd also encourage professionals at any level to follow the conversation and get engaged, not just listen. Sustainability only moves forward through partnership; everyone has something valuable to contribute.

SAWA: Is there a regional leader or organisation that more people should know about?

I'd point to the World Green Building Council's MENA Regional Network; people can also connect with their local Green Building Council. The AEE brings real value in helping the industry understand and manage energy well. And of course, Green Leaders is working to empower the next generation of leaders holistically, beyond just buildings. All of these organisations are worth being part of.

SAWA: Do you have any closing thoughts to share with our community?

Sustainability is no longer a compliance checklist, or something that lives in one department. It's becoming how every organisation designs, builds, invests, and grows. The decisions we make today will shape our cities, our resources, and the quality of life of future generations. We all have a role to play, and the time to act is now. We need more leaders, and we need more Green Leaders.