COP26, Climate Change and Saudi Arabia’s Commitment to Climate Solutions

COP26, Climate Change and Saudi Arabia’s Commitment to Climate Solutions

There can be no doubting that this year’s highly anticipated United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) carries immense implications. Its significance has earned it a billing as the World’s “Moment of Truth”, serving as a five-year progress report on nations’ commitments to the 1.5-degree Celsius target set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

COP26 serves as a platform where countries have an opportunity to review the progress of their carbon mitigation journeys and to reconsider how they plan to attain their long-term net-zero objectives. As the first cycle of progress evaluations is coming to an end, the world is expecting that the countries at COP26, which collectively represent more than 80% of the world’s carbon emissions, demonstrate positive intent to keep the hope of preventing temperature rises alive. It is the time for serious reflection, reconciliation, and change.

Sharing the same environmental concerns with the rest of the world, Saudi Arabia recognizes the urgent need to flatten the global carbon emissions curve and speed the transition to a low-carbon economy. For its part, the Kingdom recently pledged to achieve net-zero by 2060, allocating more than $180 billion to the effort.

Saudi Arabia’s net-zero plan was announced during the launch of