Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced the launch of the Green Saudi and Green Middle East Initiatives to help reduce carbon emissions in the region and move the Kingdom closer to achieving environmental sustainability.
The initiatives, which are in line with Saudi Arabia’s national transformation plan, Vision 2030, aim to chart a path that would support the Kingdom and the region in protecting the planet.
Saudi Arabia’s initiatives, policies and projects reaffirm the Kingdom’s commitment to preserving the environment and inspiring comprehensive positive change in the region, experts told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The projects strongly back efforts for establishing environmentally responsible sources of energy, reducing carbon emissions and combating pollution, specialists explained, adding that such initiatives will offer a qualitative leap in the history of energy and pave the way for giant investments.
“The two new initiatives reflect Saudi Arabia’s dedication to actively contributing to protecting the planet. They also confirm that the environment has become a fundamental pillar in the Kingdom’s policies,” said Mohammed Al-Dhabi, an expert in oil economies.
Set to apply a number of ambitious programs, the initiatives will reduce carbon emissions by 60% in the region and plant 50 billion trees in the world’s biggest afforestation project.
The tree-planting project will be double the size of the Great Green Wall in the Sahel region, the second-biggest regional afforestation initiative.
Al-Dhabi pointed out that the Kingdom, in recent decades, has struggled from shrinking vegetation, desertification, pollution, dust storms, extinction of some fungus species and a decrease in the level of groundwater.
In the US, statistics show that the green economy generates $ 1.3 trillion in annual sales revenue and employs approximately 9.5 million workers, Secretary-General of the Saudi Green Building Forum, Faisal Al-Fadl, told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Between 2012 and 2016, the US’ green economy grew by 20%, he added.
“The new Saudi initiatives will provide a quantum leap in the history of energy and environment, and will pave the way to attracting billions of foreign investments to the Kingdom,” affirmed Al-Fadl.
