Designing a sustainability incentive methodology for free zones based on expert priorities

Due to the steadily intensifying environmental and social challenges, an expanding set of sustainability obligations are being imposed across global supply chains. In this context, free zones can function as incubators for sustainability‑oriented investments by offering incentives that facilitate sustainability compliance. However, limited research addresses how sustainability incentives are prioritized by free zones, especially within the Global South. This study aims to develop a sustainability incentive model for free zones and determine how sustainability incentives are prioritized, drawing on input from three experts in the Middle East using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Thereby offering a multi-criteria assessment framework and policy-relevant insights for sustainability governance from a Global South perspective. Results show that economic incentives receive the greatest (61.44%), followed by environmental (26.84%) and social incentives (11.72%), respectively. The results unveil the centrality of economic measures - a pattern consistent with the core economic mandate of free zones - but also raise concerns about the relative underrepresentation of environmental and social pillars. The study is constrained by a small, region-specific expert panel and reliance on one multi-criteria decision method but nonetheless provides an initial basis for designing more effective incentive portfolios that could benefit policymakers and enable free zones to meet emerging sustainability obligations while sustaining competitiveness. Moreover, the findings highlight the need to strengthen environmental and social instruments to reconsider tradeoffs across the overall sustainability pillars to achieve a more balanced sustainability profile for free zones.