Saudi Arabia has vowed to become net-zero by 2060, while still keeping its eye on crude oil production for the near future, the nation's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has revealed in a speech ahead of the COP26 summit.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Credit: Matias Lynch / Shutterstock
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, pictured at the 2018 G20 summit. Credit: Matias Lynch / Shutterstock
The announcement, made on October 23, came alongside a disclaimer that Riyadh would not seek to move away from fossil fuels for the time being while investing in new schemes to slowly reduce emissions.
Read more: "Get serious", support energy transition, wind sector urges governments
The Saudis are expected to work towards cutting overall emissions by around 278 million tonnes year-on-year by 2030, with a view to investing 700 billion riyals (€160 billion) in various climate initiatives.
Included in these initiatives was a pledge to plant as many as 450 million new trees and reuse or rehabilitate large amounts of land.
The announcement places it in line with other countries such as China and Russia, who have both also pledged to be net-zero by 2050. However, other powers such as the US, UK and EU have all pledged to be net-zero by 2050, with sweeping changes set for the 2020s in what Brussels refers to as the "decade of change".
The kingdom has been vocal about those who feel fossil fuels need to be rapidly phased out, concerned this could lead to price shocks and shortages and threaten energy security. It was one of a few COP26 nations, alongside Japan and Australia, that attempted to get the UN to play down the need to transition away from fossil fuel ahead of the summit, according to leaked documents.
Saudi Arabia is currently one of the largest producers of oil in the world - currently second ahead of Russia for crude oil produced, losing only to the US - but is the number one exporter globally.
The kingdom's exports are currently not counted towards overall carbon emissions. Saudi Arabia is currently ranked 10th globally in terms of annual emissions.
Despite this, Bin Salman expressed interest in using what he referred to as a "carbon circular approach" to turn Riyadh into "a more sustainable capital", advocating for a methodology of "reuse, recycle, reduce or remove".
Current plans to tackle climate change were laid out by the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. The goal is to reduce a rise in global temperatures by a minimum of 2°C, with the ultimate goal of limiting the rise to 1.5°C.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed in May that "radical change" is needed to en route to net-zero, stipulating the need to immediately phase out future oil and natural gas projects in favour of greener alternatives.
Read more: Radical change needed en route to net-zero, IEA warns
In his speech, Bin Salman specified his ambitions are to "preserve and reinforce" the kingdom's role in the "stability and security" of global energy markets while allowing for sufficient technology to be developed and matured in order to actively reduce emissions.
Also outlined in his speech were plans to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman - the Crown Prince's brother - revealed the nation will invest heavily in carbon capture technologies to help meet its goals.
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