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Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter, vows to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2060 | Climate Change News

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Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, announced that its goal is to achieve “net zero” emissions of greenhouse gases by 2060 and work with more than 100 countries to curb man-made climate change.

On Saturday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Mohammed bin Salman) announced the news in a written speech at the beginning of the Kingdom’s first ever Saudi Green Initiative Forum, which was held at the global COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. The climate conference caused a sensation before it started. .

Although the kingdom plans to reduce emissions within its borders, there is no sign that Saudi Arabia will slow down its investment in oil and gas or give up control of the energy market by stopping the production of fossil fuels.

Energy exports constitute the backbone of Saudi Arabia’s economy, although as the world increasingly wants to get rid of its dependence on fossil fuels, people are striving to diversify their incomes.

The country is expected to earn 150 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from oil this year alone.

Crown Prince Mohammed promised that by 2030, Saudi Arabia will plant 450 million trees and restore large areas of degraded land, reduce carbon emissions by 200 million tons, and try to turn the inland city of Riyadh into a more sustainable capital.

The kingdom joined Russia and China on its set net zero target date of 2060. The goal of the United States and the European Union is 2050.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest polluters. It said it will join the global effort to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

COP26 Chairman Alok Sharma welcomed the news.

“I hope this landmark statement…will inspire other people’s ambitions before #COP26,” Sharma wrote on Twitter, adding that he is looking forward to seeing more details about the Saudi plan.

When announcing the news, analysts said that Saudi Arabia has secured its continued seat in global climate change negotiations. Saudi Arabia opposes those who believe that fossil fuels must be phased out urgently, warning that premature conversion may lead to price fluctuations and shortages.

Recently leaked files It shows that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries are lobbying behind the scenes before the COP26 summit to change the language about emissions.

In the process of domestic transformation, Saudi Arabia can also allocate its locally subsidized oil and natural gas as more profitable exports to China and India. Demand is expected to increase in the next few years.

“The kingdom’s economic growth is driven by energy exports. This is not a state secret,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Energy Minister, said at a forum in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia stated that it will achieve net zero emissions through the so-called “carbon circular economy” approach, which advocates “reduction, reuse, recovery and removal.” This is an unpopular strategy among climate change activists because it touts carbon capture and storage technologies that are still unreliable, rather than honing to phase out fossil fuels.

“Unproven technology”

The announcement provided few details on how Saudi Arabia will reduce emissions in the short to medium term, including when it will peak. Experts said that the world needs to cut drastically as soon as possible to ensure that the world has the opportunity to control global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

This kingdom-with about 17% of the proven oil reserves-supplies about 10% of the world’s oil demand.

As a heavyweight in OPEC, Saudi Arabia has a huge influence on the energy market and can force other oil-producing countries to take action, just as the price war triggered by the country last year successfully allowed Russia to contain it when demand slowed due to a pandemic. Seen during production.

Saudi Arabia stated that the transition to net zero carbon emissions “will be achieved in a way that maintains the Kingdom’s leading role in enhancing the security and stability of the global energy market.”

Gulf oil producers oppose the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, saying that hasty changes will hurt low-income countries and populations that lack basic energy. Saudi Arabia also advocates the use of language that refers to greenhouse gases, and this basket includes more than fossil fuels.

“We believe that carbon capture, utilization and storage, direct air capture, hydrogen and low-carbon fuels will develop the necessary components to truly ensure that this work is inclusive,” Prince Abdulaziz said of the global energy transition Shi said.

Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates, another major Gulf Arab energy producer, announced that by 2050, it will also join the “net zero” country club. The UAE is home to the first nuclear power plant in the region, but it has not announced how it will be implemented. It will achieve this goal.

The leaked documents first reported by the BBC also show that Saudi Arabia and other countries, including Australia, Brazil and Japan, are clearly also trying to downplay the UN Scientific Panel’s report on global warming that will be released before the COP26 summit.

Greenpeace, which obtained the leaked documents, said that Saudi Arabia has enabled countries to continue burning fossil fuels by promoting carbon capture technology.

The organization stated that these “unproven technologies” will enable countries to emit more greenhouse gases, and the optimistic assumption is that they can emit them from the atmosphere in the future.

Fossil fuels, such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal, currently account for the majority of global energy consumption. Only 10% of electricity is generated by solar and wind energy.

On Saturday, Prince Abdulaziz said that every country’s approach to reducing emissions looks different.

“No one should be too artificial about what tools in the toolkit everyone will have,” he said. “But if the tools in your toolkit and my tools can reduce emissions, this is the requirement and this is the goal.”



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