Saudi Arabia repositions towards a more sustainable future

Minister of energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman says the country is determined to shift its course towards sustainable development and the Kingdom will support efforts to mitigate climate change

Saudi Arabia is determined to move towards a more sustainable path of economic development, said the country’s leaders at the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) Forum on 23 October.

Yesterday, the Kingdom pledged to aim to reach net zero by 2060 - a move that was praised by Boris Johnson, the prime minister, who said the goal was “a major step forward”.

Minister of energy Prince Abdulaziz told The Independent that the country’s SGI targets, which also include planting 10 billion trees, raising the landmass of protected areas to more than 30 per cent of the total land area and generating 50 per cent of the Kingdom’s energy from renewable sources by 2030, are the product of months of internal discussion.

“This is not a bet, or a shot in the dark,” he told Sarah Sands at the SGI Forum in Riyadh. “We wanted to ensure that whatever [goals we set], we can discharge them.”

As minister of energy, Prince Abdulaziz will also oversee the Kingdom’s target of reducing carbon emissions by 278 million tonnes each year - a goal that was raised from 130 million tons by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the first day of the inaugural SGI conference yesterday.

Prince Abdulaziz also underlined the Kingdom’s ambition to become the world’s biggest producer and exporter of blue and green hydrogen.

On October 23, Saudi Aramco, one of the largest oil and gas producers in the world, announced its intention to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.