Energy minister challenges world to follow Saudi’s green lead

Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud ‘lays down the gauntlet’ to other countries at Saudi Green Initiative conference

Saudi energy minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud speaks at the SGI conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt (The Independent)

Saudi Arabia’s minister of energy, HRH Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, today challenged other nations to follow his country’s lead in green technology and energy transformation.

The minister said he was “laying down the gauntlet” as he gave an upbeat account of Saudi Arabia’s progress since they launched the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) in October 2021.

HRH was addressing the second meeting of the Saudi Green Initiative conference, taking place alongside the Cop27 climate summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.

The theme of the SGI conference is ‘from ambition to action’. In that vein, the minister unveiled what he called a “laundry list” of substantial achievements over the past 12 months.

They include reducing the country’s CO2 emissions and launching new renewable energy projects in line with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s ambition to meet 50% of its energy needs through renewables by 2030. Additionally, there are 10 new renewable energy projects planned and 40MW solar PV to be connected in 2023.

Referring to the country’s role as the world’s leading oil exporter, the minister also revealed an international greenhouse gases credit and offsetting scheme. He said the plans had originally been discussed with British politician Alok Sharma at Cop26 in Glasgow. He thanked the UK for its work on the scheme, details of which are due to be released soon.

The second meeting of the SGI conference takes place alongside Cop27 in Egypt (The Independent)

Saudi Arabia is also investing heavily in carbon capture technology, designed to prevent harmful gases escaping into the atmosphere, while potentially providing new energy sources.

Referring to a contract to build a new Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) facility, he said Saudi was “the only country I know” that has made such a large contractual commitment to the potentially groundbreaking technology.

“We are more than happy to share with other governments what to do, to do the right job,” he said.

In a lighter moment, the 62-year-old Saudi royal drew laughter from the SGI audience, saying he “felt like breakdancing” when the CCUS deal was finalised.

He also referred to the ongoing, intense debate at Cop27 on the role rich countries play in supporting energy-poor nations.

The minister vowed to make the debate “less condescending”, rather than approach countries with “nice packages” that fall apart when the detail is explored.

Saudi Arabia is also to lead an international initiative on clean cooking oil.

Find out more about the MGI summit and SGI forum here: greeninitiatives.gov.sa