President of (COP16) Riyadh: The Kingdom aims to raise the percentage of renewable energy to 50% of the energy mix by 2030

Engineer Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and President of (COP16) Riyadh, revealed that the Kingdom aims to raise the percentage of renewable energy to 50% of the energy mix by 2030 and reduce carbon emissions, and also looks forward to enhancing work under the umbrella of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification to address major environmental challenges.

He explained in his speech during the launch of the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, that the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is a framework for collective action to rehabilitate lands and invest in increasing green areas, noting that the loss of biodiversity and the increasing repercussions of climate change increase migration rates and affect 1.8 billion people around the world, in addition to 3 billion people being affected by land degradation, with losses exceeding 6 trillion dollars annually.

Al-Fadhli stressed that the Kingdom’s hosting of COP16 represents an extension of its interest in preserving the environment nationally, regionally and internationally, as Saudi Vision 2030 gives environmental protection a top priority to achieve sustainable development and improve the quality of life. COP16 in Riyadh is an opportunity to raise awareness among the international community about the strong interconnected relationship between our land, oceans and climate, and to warn that 75% of fresh water originates from cultivated lands, while plants contribute to protecting 80% of the world’s soil.

Eng. Al-Fadhli announced during his speech the Kingdom’s government’s support for this initiative with an amount of (150) million dollars to be allocated over the next ten years; reflecting the Kingdom’s leadership in providing proactive solutions to environmental and humanitarian challenges.

He explained that drought affects millions of people around the world, noting that traditional methods that rely on responding after drought occurs are no longer sufficient to confront the increasing challenges.

Eng. Al-Fadli stressed that the initiative comes as a continuation of the continuous Saudi efforts at the national, regional and international levels, which are embodied in pioneering projects such as the “Saudi Green Initiative” and the “Middle East Green Initiative”, in addition to the global initiative to preserve land launched by the Kingdom under the umbrella of the G20, and the establishment of the International Water Organization. The Riyadh COP16 conference highlights the fact that up to 40% of the planet’s land is already suffering from degradation, affecting half of humanity and threatening nearly half of the global GDP, according to the latest edition of the Global Land Outlook report, which requires urgent intervention, as humanity will bear a heavy cost for inaction. The COP16 conference in Riyadh calls for the involvement of marginalized groups in the decision-making process regarding land restoration, namely indigenous communities, women and youth, as they are the groups most affected by the destruction caused by land degradation, to bring about change that may benefit communities and the environment, and provide them with the opportunity to contribute to protecting and quickly restoring our degraded land resources. The 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP16) will be held in Riyadh from 2 to 13 December 2024. It is the first Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to be held in the Middle East and North Africa region, which is familiar with the effects of desertification, land degradation and drought. The UNCCD is the global voice for land and one of the three main UN treaties known as the Rio Conventions, along with climate and biodiversity.