Saudi Arabia ratified the Paris Agreement on 3 November 2016 and in the same year submitted its first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which aims to achieve the avoidance of up to 130-million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030 annually through economic diversification and adaptation measures.
In April 2016, Saudi Arabia announced the first details of its “Vision 2030”, a plan for economic diversification and social transition in sectors such as telecommunications, power generation and natural gas exploration. “Vision 2030” calls for raising the share of non-oil exports from 16% to 50% of current export value by 2030, as well as expanding the role of renewable energy in the Saudi Arabian energy system and localising the renewable energy and industrial equipment sectors.
In March 2021, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the Saudi Arabia Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative - two projects that aim to reverse environmental degradation and climate change.
Following a number of high-level meetings in 2020 and 2021, the EU and Saudi Arabia started a Saudi-EU dialogue series on climate change in June 2021. The series included an opening discussion on the European Green Deal (inter alia on sustainable finance and adaptation aspects) and the Saudi circular economy concept, as well as technical expert dialogues on climate transparency, hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).
Climate Adaptation
Green Hydrogen