Saudi Arabia Joins Global Community with Pledge to Achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2060

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced on Saturday at the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) event that the world’s top oil exporter aims to reach “net zero” emissions of greenhouse gases, mostly produced by burning fossil fuels, by 2060, according to reports.

Saudi Arabia plans to cut carbon emissions by over 270 million tons a year, the Crown Prince said in a prerecorded address to a climate forum in Riyadh. To achieve the cuts, Saudi Arabia is set to invest more than $186 billion to achieve the goal, according to the Crown Prince. The plan is to create a “carbon circular economy” — a plan built around initiatives such as recycling and carbon removal. Saudi Arabia also vowed by 2030 to plant 450 million trees, to rehabilitate nearly 20 million acres of land.

This transition will be reached in a way that “preserves the kingdom’s leading role in enhancing the security and stability of global energy markets, in light of the maturity and availability of the necessary technologies to manage and lower emissions,” the Crown Prince said.

John Kerry, President Biden’s special envoy for climate change, traveled to Saudi Arabia over the weekend for private meetings and is set to speak Monday alongside Crown Prince Mohammed at the Riyadh summit gathering of Middle East heads of state to discuss strategies to meet the impact of climate change in the region, including cutting emissions. Other top officials and foreign heads of state are in the Kingdom for the event as well.

But the pledge does not mean Saudi Arabia will stop being a global leader in oil production. The U.N. holds countries responsible for emissions only within their own territory, so nations who consume oil from Saudi Arabia are expected to account for the emissions generated from the fossil fuel they use, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The Kingdom’s pledged goal of 2060 is 10 years after the U.S. pledges to reach net zero in 2050. China and India, the world’s biggest and third-biggest emitters, have not committed to this timeline.

The SGI event is being held ahead of the forthcoming 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will begin on Sunday, October 31 and run until Friday, November 12.It is a big week for Saudi Arabia. After the Saudi Green Initiative event, the Kingdom will host the 5th Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference, the Kingdom’s premier annual summit hosted in the Kingdom.





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