Saudi Arabia stress Uniting Efforts Significance to Activate Paris Agreement

Taking into account the principle of common and differentiated responsibility am countries, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reiterated stance on unifying efforts exerted to activate Paris Agreement and implement climate change framework convention .

This came in the Kingdom’s speech during the Conference of the Parties to Climate Change (COP26), in Glasgow, hosted by the United Kingdom, and delivered by Prince-minister of Energy Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.

“The Kingdom affirms that we all have to unite our efforts to implement the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, taking into account the principle of joint and differentiated responsibility, at the same time among countries, and the special circumstances facing the least developed countries, and to work together to support these countries to face the negative effects of policies related to climate change, without disrupting their sustainable development, he stated.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently launched the “Green Saudi Arabia” and “Green Middle East” initiatives, aim to reduce carbon emissions, in the Middle East, by more than 10% out of the total current global situation, in recognition of the importance of raising the ceiling of ambition.

It is hoped to meet the environmental challenges associated with climate change, especially during the current decade, as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has raised the level of its nationally determined contributions, by reducing emissions by 278 million tons, annually, by 2030, which is equivalent to more than double previously announced, in 2015, he elaborated.

The Kingdom also announced its target to reach zero neutrality in the Year 2060, through the circular carbon economy approach, in line with the Kingdom’s development plans, enabling its economic diversification, and in line with the “moving baseline” and preserving the Kingdom’s leading role in enhancing the security and stability of world energy markets, and in light of the development and application of technologies necessary to manage and reduce emissions, he explained.

Revealing that the Kingdom announced its desire to join the global pledge on methane, he pointed out that aims to reduce global methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels, and to achieve these ambitious goals, details of more than 53 initiatives were announced.

The Kingdom volume of investments in this respect, exceeds $185 billion, including access to renewable energy for a 50% share of the production capacity of the electricity mix, the initiative of the Saudi Energy Efficiency Program, and the construction of one of the world’s largest centers, for the production of green hydrogen, in the city of NEOM.

There, the Kingdom aspires to produce 4 million ton per year of green and blue hydrogen, building the largest carbon capture or sequestration, use and storage complex with a capacity of 44 million ton per year, all by 2030, he stated, in addition to establishing a fund to invest, in carbon circular economy technologies in the Middle East, Africa and developing countries, and launching an initiative contributing to providing

clean fuel solutions to provide food to more than 750 million people in the world, he said, adding that the total investment, in these two initiatives is approximately $11 billion, and the Kingdom will contribute to developing about 15% that will be financed, and the Kingdom will work with countries and regional and international development funds to discuss ways to finance and implement these initiatives.

The Kingdom has announced a number of regional and international initiatives, most notably; launching a number of centers and programs, such as establishing a regional center for early warning of storms, a regional center for sustainable development of fisheries, which will have a major role in creating the infrastructure, necessary to protect the environment, reduce emissions, and raise the level of regional coordination, he highlighted.

It also announced one of the largest afforestation programs in the world, to plant trees, in the Kingdom and the Middle East, with the aim of removing emissions.

“The global nature of climate change requires a joint and effective international response, and the success of this response lies in achieving three basic pillars, the first of which is energy security, the second is economic development that ensures the well-being of peoples, and the third is to address the challenges of climate change, he indicated.

 All these pillars should be taken into account together, without prejudice to one for the other, with the importance of recognizing the multiplicity of solutions to address the problem of climate change, by focusing on emissions as mentioned in the Paris Agreement, and without bias towards one source of energy without the other, Prince-minister of energy concluded.