Sat 23 October 2021:
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the Green Initiative summit on Saturday, investing 700 billion riyals ($186.9 billion) to address climate change concerns.
Bin Salman stated in a televised speech that the Saudi Green Initiative seeks to reduce carbon emissions by 278 million tons per year by 2060, achieving net zero emissions.
“We announce in this forum the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s roadmap for protecting the environment and confronting climate change. This annual forum will serve as a platform to launch our new environmental initiatives and monitor the impact of the previously announced ones,” the crown prince said.
The kingdom’s oil and gas exports form the backbone of its economy, despite efforts to diversify away from its reliance on fossil fuels for revenue. It has resisted efforts to curb its investments in oil.
The country will aim to reduce its own emissions, but it will continue to pump and export fossil fuels to Asia and other regions.
“I am pleased to launch initiatives in the energy sector that will reduce carbon emissions by 278 million tons annually by 2030, thus voluntarily more than doubling the target announced, estimated at 130 million tons annually,” he added.
The initiative’s first phase entails planting over 450 million trees, repairing 8 million hectares of damaged land, and increasing the total protected territory in the oil-rich kingdom to almost 30% of total land area.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, announced the Green Initiative in March to improve life quality and protect the environment by increasing dependency on clean energy supplies.
The Saudi roadmap comes only days before COP26, the United Nations climate change conference, which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland at the end of this month, in the hopes of reaching a broader agreement on carbon reductions to combat global warming.
Photo: SPA
_____________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
