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Saudi Arabia unveils campaign to tackle climate change
RIYADH, March 28, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia on
Saturday unveiled a sweeping campaign to tackle climate change and reduce
carbon emissions, including a plan to plant billions of trees in the coming
decades.
The OPEC kingpin seems an unlikely champion of clean energy, but the
“Saudi Green Initiative” aims to reduce emissions by generating half of its
energy from renewables by 2030, de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman said.
Saudi Arabia also plans to plant 10 billion trees in the kingdom in the
coming decades, he said in a statement released by the official SPA news
agency.
Riyadh also plans to work with other Arab states on a “Middle East Green
Initiative” to plant an additional 40 billion trees, in what would be the
world’s largest reforestation programme, he added.
“The kingdom, the region and the world needs to go much further and faster
in combatting climate change,” Prince Mohammed said.
“We reject the false choice between preserving the economy and protecting
the environment.”
The statement did not elaborate on how the mammoth plan would be executed
in a largely desert landscape with extremely limited renewable water sources.
Saudi Arabia currently draws on oil and natural gas to both meet its own
fast-growing power demand and desalinate its water — which consumes huge
quantities of oil daily.
The new initiatives are part of the prince’s Vision 2030 plan to diversify
the kingdom’s oil-reliant economy.
Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia and the region face “significant climate
challenges”, including desertification, which poses an “immediate economic
risk”.
Some $13 billion is lost annually due to sand storms in the region, while
pollution from greenhouse gases has reduced average Saudi life expectancy by
1.5 years, he added.
The initiatives come as energy giant Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s cash cow,
faces scrutiny from investors over its emissions.
In January, Bloomberg News reported that the company excluded emissions
generated from many of its refineries and petrochemical plants in its overall
carbon disclosures to investors.
It added that if those facilities are included, the company’s self-
reported carbon footprint could nearly double, adding as much as 55 million
metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent to its annual tally — roughly the
emissions produced by Portugal.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0928 hrs