Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's energy minister, delivers a speech via video, marking the opening of the third Saudi Green Initiative Forum at COP28, Dec 4, 2023, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Saudi Arabia is on track to hit its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 278 million metric tons per annum by 2030, a top official said, as the third edition of the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) Forum opened on Monday during the ongoing United Nations climate summit (COP28) in Dubai.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, made the announcement in a recorded message as he virtually inaugurated the SGI at COP28.

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In his opening address, Prince Abdulaziz broke down Saudi’s progress in transforming its domestic energy mix, investing in new energy sources, and boosting energy efficiency measures to fast-track its efforts reaching net-zero by 2060.

Saudi Arabia aims to achieve an optimal energy mix for electricity production by having gas and renewable energy at approximately 50 percent each by 2030

Saudi Arabia aims to achieve an optimal energy mix for electricity production by having gas and renewable energy at approximately 50 percent each by 2030. When achieved, this will displace approximately 1 million barrels of liquid fuel currently used, according to the minister. 

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An additional 2.1 gigawatts of renewable energy since 2022 brings the total capacity of installed renewable energy to 2.8 GW, or an equivalent to powering over 520,000 homes. This marks a 300 percent increase in installed capacity.

By the end of 2023, the production capacity of renewable energy projects under construction in Saudi Arabia will exceed 8 GW, with an additional 13 GW of renewable energy capacity in various stages of development across multiple projects.

Since the launch of SGI, 43.9 million trees and shrubs have been planted and 94,000 hectares of degraded land — equivalent to over 146,000 football fields — has been rehabilitated across the Kingdom. All these are part of an initiative to grow 10 billion trees in Saudi Arabia to bring down the temperature, improve air quality and land.

Over 40 initiatives have been introduced in recent years to support the interim target of planting 600 million trees and rehabilitating 8 million hectares of land by 2030.

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The tree-planting project is being executed in two phases. The first phase will be from 2024 to 2030. The second phase, from 2030, will involve some implementation of learnings from phase one.

In October, a two-year feasibility study was presented on how to achieve maximal vegetation cover in Saudi Arabia. The study involved more than 1,150 field surveys in collaboration with over 50 renowned experts. 

Strategic afforestation and land rehabilitation efforts have been broadened, ranging from mangroves to inland marshes, mountain forests, rangelands, national parks, and valleys.

Since the launch of SGI, 1,669 endangered animals including Arabian oryx, Arabian and sand gazelles and Nubian ibex are said to have been rewilded in Saudi Arabia’s nature reserves. The herbivores help increase biodiversity and will eventually support the reintroduction of the critically endangered Arabian leopard into the wild. 

In 2023 alone, seven Arabian leopard cubs were born under a conservation breeding program in the city of Taif. The hugely successful program has nearly doubled the number of leopards under its protection since it started in 2020, according to a press release.

COP28 started on Nov 30 and will end on Dec 12.

Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com