Saudi Arabia unveils ‘Green Initiative’ to tackle climate change

Saudi Arabia unveils ‘Green Initiative’ to tackle climate change

RIYADH – Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia on Saturday unveiled a sweeping campaign to tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions, including a plan to plant billions of trees in the coming decades.

The OPEC's leading country seems an unlikely champion of clean energy, but the “Saudi Green Initiative” aims to reduce emissions by generating half of its energy from renewables by 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said.

Saudi Arabia also plans to plant 10 billion trees in the kingdom in the coming decades, the crown prince said in a statement released by the official SPA news agency.

Riyadh also plans to work with other Arab states on a “Middle East Green Initiative” to plant an additional 40 billion trees, in what would be the world's largest reforestation programme, he added.

“The kingdom, the region and the world needs to go much further and faster in combatting climate change,” Prince Mohammed said.

A file picture of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. File picture (SPA)“We reject the false choice between preserving the economy and protecting the environment.”

The statement did not elaborate on how the mammoth plan would be executed in a largely desert landscape with extremely limited renewable water sources.

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