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Join on Telegram Rabat – One of the world’s top oil producers has pledged to reach “net zero” emissions by 2060 ahead of the coming COP26 climate summit. The Saudis announced their new ambition after leaked documents this week revealed the kingdom has been one of several nations actively lobbying to limit climate action.
Greenpeace used leaked UN documents to show that Saudi Arabia, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that it heads, actively lobbied “to remove or weaken a key conclusion that the world needs to rapidly phase out fossil fuels.”
The Saudi government now appears eager to counter this narrative ahead of a global climate summit in Scotland. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made the new pledge at the start of the inaugural Saudi Green Initiative Forum in Riyadh. Besides curbing emissions, Saudi Arabia intends to rehabilitate land and plant 450 million trees.
The new pledge aims to reduce Saudi Arabia’s carbon emissions by 200 million tons in order to reach “net zero” by 2060, a similar target as oil-rich Russia and manufacturing giant China. The EU and US have pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2050, although most experts predict current climate action is woefully inadequate to meet that goal.
Reaching “net zero” emissions will be particularly difficult for Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich kingdom emits roughly 600m tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. While that amount places it between France and Germany in terms of emissions, Saudi Arabia’s economy depends heavily on oil exports as a source of state revenue.
If the Saudi Green Initiative Forum in Riyadh is anything to go by, the kingdom appears more preoccupied with the visuals of climate action. The slickly produced event shows a heavy emphasis on messaging, without specifying in any way how the Saudi economy would survive without its massive hydrocarbon sales.
