At the UN meeting on climate change, being held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia has unveiled 66 new initiatives as part of its environmental agenda, the officials said. 

The kingdom’s proposed projects are based on four primary pillars – circular carbon economy, increasing vegetation cover and lowering degraded lands, safeguarding wildlife habitats and biodiversity, and fostering sustainability.

The second iteration of the Saudi Green Initiatives (SGI), which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced in 2021, was introduced during COP27 with a sizable pavilion devoted to the KSA’s innovative climate initiatives.

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification, the National Center for Wildlife, Saudi Aramco, and SABIC—all falling under the purview of the Ministry of Energy—were among the national organizations represented at the event.

“Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (announced) the SGI to position Saudi Arabia at the vanguard of the fight against climate change. This initiative aims to improve the quality of life in Saudi Arabia and also to protect the next generations,” Albaraa Aldhahri, project manager at the Saudi Green Initiative’s environmental track, told the media, adding that the Kingdom’s actions to meet the three SGI targets will get underway by cutting emissions by 278 million tons annually by 2030.

The second goal, according to Aldhahri, is to plant 10 billion trees over the next few decades, as well as to safeguard more land and coastline—more than 30% of Saudi Arabia’s total land area.

The pillar promoting sustainability is integrated into the other two pillars to achieve the SGI targets, where the energy ministry is the primary participant at the summit, he said, adding that the pillar protecting wildlife, habitats, and biodiversity will contribute to the goal of increasing the protected areas by more than 50% by 2030.

Meanwhile, the circular carbon economy program, according to Ahmed Al-Nafie of the Ministry of Energy’s Liquid Displacement Program, sought to attain the ideal energy mix in the kingdom, with 50% gas and 50% renewables.

Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas comes to the Middle East on 23 November 2022. Click here to know more.