With a growing understanding of the importance of addressing environmental challenges, the Kingdom has increasingly aligned its policies, investment and initiatives with global climate change efforts. Vision 2030 addresses key sustainability issues, including harnessing abundant renewable resources, strengthening water preservation and safeguarding the environment. Although the journey has not been without challenges, the government continues to balance environmental sustainability with economic objectives.
Green Initiatives
The launch of the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) and the Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) in 2021 marked a turning point in the sustainability agenda, with the former providing guidance for domestic sustainability projects and the latter promoting sustainability throughout the region. Saudi Arabia has launched 17 renewable energy projects with a combined 13.76 GW of capacity under the SGI, which are expected to reduce CO emissions by 23.1m tonnes per annum (tpa). This complements the construction of the world’s largest single-site solar plant in Al Shuaibah. Developed by ACWA Power and the Water and Electricity Holding Company, the 2060-MW facility is expected to come on-line by end-2025, contributing to the goal of generating 50% of power from renewables by 2030.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia is actively implementing a circular carbon economy framework, which focuses on managing and reducing its carbon footprint. As part of this approach, oil major Aramco is spearheading one of the largest carbon capture usage and storage hubs in the world at Jubail Industrial City. Expected to capture 44m tpa by 2035, equivalent to 15% of current nationally determined contributions, it will also have a storage capacity of up to 9m tpa of CO by 2027.
These efforts align with the Kingdom’s commitment to reduce emissions by 278m tpa by 2030 and the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce global methane emissions by 30% through the actions of signatory countries, also by 2030. To further integrate climate action with economic opportunity, Saudi Arabia is constructing the world’s largest clean hydrogen production hub at the $500bn NEOM mega-city. A collaboration of NEOM, ACWA Power and US-based Air Products, it is set to produce 600 tonnes per day of carbon-free hydrogen in the form of green ammonia by 2026 for global export. These advancements have led Saudi Arabia to ascend 10 spots in MIT Technology Review’s Green Future Index 2022, placing first in the Arab world and 20th globally for CO emissions reductions.
Fresher Air
Saudi environmental stewardship efforts include reversing desertification and expanding green areas. It recognises the potential severe impacts of a continued high-emissions pathway, including drought, heatwaves, rising sea levels and extreme weather. Failure to act could cost around 12.2% of GDP by 2050, according to the “G20 Climate Risk Atlas”.
To address these risks, the SGI, which consists of over 60 initiatives, aims to rehabilitate 40m ha of land and plant 10bn trees to improve air quality and reduce sandstorms. Efforts have focused on urban areas, in particular. For instance, 32m trees are planned in public parks and gardens across Riyadh by 2031. The construction of the 16.6-sq-km King Salman Park, the largest urban park project in the world, includes a target of 1m trees, and the Green Qibla initiative aims to plant 15m trees in Makkah by 2036. Within two years of its launch the SGI has seen 18m trees planted and approximately 60,000 ha of degraded land rehabilitated, and 60 sites have been designated for the sustainable planting of trees.
Regionally, Saudi Arabia has pledged $2.5bn over the course of 10 years to support MGI projects, which seek to mitigate the impact of climate change on the region and foster collaboration to meet global climate targets. Among the MGI’s objectives is the planting of 50bn trees, making it the largest tree-planting initiative in the world. Additionally, the MGI seeks to restore 200m ha of degraded land, increase vegetation cover by 12 times and reduce global carbon emissions by 2.5%.
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