Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday launched the kingdom’s Green Initiative forum at investments of 700 billion riyals ($186.9 billion) to confront the challenges of climate change.
In a televised speech, bin Salman said the Saudi Green Initiative aims to cut carbon emissions by 278 million tons per year to reach net zero emission by 2060.
"We announce in this forum the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's roadmap for protecting the environment and confronting climate change. This annual forum will serve as a platform to launch our new environmental initiatives and monitor the impact of the previously announced ones," the crown prince said.
"I am pleased to launch initiatives in the energy sector that will reduce carbon emissions by 278 million tons annually by 2030, thus voluntarily more than doubling the target announced, estimated at 130 million tons annually," he added.
The first phase of the initiative includes planting more than 450 million trees, rehabilitating 8 million hectares of degraded lands, and bringing the total protected areas in the oil-rich kingdom to more than 30 percent of total land area.
"I look forward to the Middle East Green Initiative Summit, which we will host the day after tomorrow, with the aim of synergizing and coordinating efforts among the countries of the region to develop the plans necessary to reach the Middle East Green Initiative target," bin Salman said.
In March, Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, announced the Green Initiative to promote life quality by increasing dependence on clean energy resources and protect the environment.
The Saudi roadmap comes days before COP26, the UN climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland at the end of this month, amid hopes to agree deeper emissions cuts to tackle global warming.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara
