Recent announcements revealed that the Kingdom will pump more than 750 billion riyals (USD 200 billion) in giant projects for green transformation and climate protection, through ambitious plans for afforestation, achieving net-zero emissions, biodiversity and clean energy.
Saudi Arabia participated in the climate summit held in Glasgow with strategic plans amounting to 65 initiatives covering all environmental aspects, at a cost of more than 50 billion riyals (USD 13.3 billion).
The Kingdom aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2060 through the carbon circular economy approach by implementing the first set of the Green Saudi initiatives, with investments exceeding 700 billion riyals (USD 186 billion) to chart a more sustainable future in the country.
The Kingdom’s plans in renewable energy sources include wind and solar energy, two sources that will represent 50 percent of the energy used to produce electricity by 2030. Saudi Arabia will also join the Global Methane Pledge to reduce global emissions by 30 percent compared to their level in 2020.
Saudi Arabia has also established a Council for Royal Reserves to develop natural reserves in six locations in the Kingdom, by raising the percentage of protected areas to more than 30 percent of the country’s land area, which exceeds the current global target to protect 17 percent of each country’s lands.
The Kingdom’s initiatives in the field of climate action include two projects to establish a fund to invest in solutions for circular carbon economy technologies in the region, and a global initiative to provide clean fuel solutions to provide food to more than 750 million people around the world, with a total amount of 39 billion riyals.
In 2015, the Kingdom joined Mission Innovation, which aims to double the funds allocated to research and studies specialized in clean energy, rationalization and efficiency of uses in order to reduce harmful emissions and their impact on climate change through innovative energy technologies.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund has announced that the volume of development loans provided by the Kingdom reached 69 billion riyals (USD 18.4 billion) over 47 years, which helped improve people’s livelihoods in various developing countries and poor communities, revealing a strong support to development sustainability programs.
Saudi Industrial Development Fund CEO Sultan Al-Marshad, said: “Saudi Arabia is one of the largest countries supporting and contributing to achieving the goals of sustainable development thanks to the assistance it provides to developing countries in the form of soft loans.”
He added that since its establishment in 1975 to this day, the Fund has supported 663 projects and 31 development programs, which benefitted 84 countries around the world.
