Recent scientific studies point to the direct impact of climate change in the GCC - increased temperatures, less rainfall, rising sea levels, and soil degradation linked to dust storms. Indirect implications on life in the GCC of climate change across the globe include a negative impact on agriculture, diminished water resources, food insecurity, as well as health issues related heat stress, pollution and exposure to radiation (Al-Maamary, Chaichan & Kazem: 2017). We have some sense of what will happen if we continue along the current trajectory- in this paper I read more closely how these environmental and public health factors will be felt or experienced, and by whom. The ways in which climate change, as a global phenomenon, will be felt at the local level fragments along lines of socioeconomic class, race/ nationality and gender. Top-down measures addressing climate change in the oil extracting states of the GCC sustainable urban development projects, investment in green cities, climate policy integration (Al-Sarihi & Mason: 2020), and ‘technical adjustments’ (Gunel: 2016) in practices and behaviour. In the summer of 2019, a food delivery service in Kuwait advertised measures to protect its motorbike drivers: a cooling vest soaked in water and worn underneath the company uniform, loose gloves, portable water bottles, and buses parked at various locations for breaks and access to refrigerated snacks. In the summer of 2020, conversations on Kuwaiti social media again raised the issue of drivers working through daily peak-heat hours (11am-5pm, June-August), during which there is a ban applied to other forms of outdoors work. How do these (and other) ‘technical adjustments’ mitigate the impact of climate change on people’s lives, and how do they shape the discussion on climate change in the region? This paper is based on critical readings of secondary literature, environmental science literature produced in Kuwait, semi structured interviews and engagement with Kuwaiti social media. It uses concepts of carbon economy (Mitchell: 2011), the Gulf in global capitalist development (Hanieh: 2011), and racial capitalism (Gilmore-Wilson: 2020, Robinson:2019) to think through with the intersecting questions on economy, nationalism, social justice, political participation and climate change.