The roadmap is the outcome of a two-year in-depth feasibility study conducted by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) and the National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC).
The Kingdom’s aim to reach net zero by 2060, highlighting the nation’s contribution to global climate goals through the implementation of over 80 public and private sector initiatives representing an investment of over US$ 188 billion (SAR 705 billion).
Saudi Arabia announced %300 increase in installed renewable capacity; 43.9 million trees were planted since the launch of the Saudi green initiative.
As part of its ongoing investment into future-proof fuels, Saudi Arabia is progressing development on the US$ 8.4 billion green hydrogen plant in NEOM, which is set to be the world’s largest. Several bilateral agreements have been signed with international counterparts throughout 2023, with the aim of producing and exporting clean and green hydrogen.
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—have been rehabilitated across the Kingdom, contributing to the target to grow 10 billion trees in Saudi Arabia over the coming decades. Over 40 initiatives are already underway, directly supporting progress towards the interim target of planting 600+ million trees and rehabilitating 8 million hectares of land by 2030.
Saudi Arabia is on a visionary path to establish a Net-Zero waste management system by 2035, led by the Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC), a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF). This ambitious project includes recycling wastewater, construction waste, and municipal solid waste, along with exploring waste-to-energy (WtE) solutions to replace 50% of energy demand with renewables by 2030, targeting 58.7 gigawatts in renewable capacity. Source: https://saudiarabien.ahk.de/
City centres are projected to benefit from increased tree canopy cover which will reduce temperatures by at least 2.2°C and improve air quality. Reduced CO2 levels is an anticipated benefit of increased tree plantation and green spaces in cities.
Saudi Arabia’s tree planting target is one of the highest amongst any greening program, globally. It is important to consider this within the context that the Kingdom faces some of the most challenging natural conditions with rainfall, arable land mass, and forest area all below the global average. The 10 billion tree target was announced as being equivalent to rehabilitating 74.8 million hectares of land. Planting 10 billion trees amounts to 1% of the global greening target and 20% of the Middle East Green Initiative’s afforestation target of planting 50 billion trees across the Middle East.
Currently, 94% of waste in Saudi Arabia ends up in landfills, but by 2035, the aim is to recycle or convert 94% of waste into energy. This transition includes recycling 81% of municipal waste, 60% of construction waste, and 85% of industrial waste, primarily driven by the Saudi Investment Recycling Company aims to drive the circular economy. Source: https://saudiarabien.ahk.de/
The Kingdom is home to a rich diversity of over 2,000 species of flora spread across a variety of habitat zones including mangroves, inland marshes, mountain forests, rangelands, national parks and valleys. By 2030, over 600 million trees are expected to be planted – equating to 3.8m hectares of rehabilitated land. Restoring and protecting this natural biodiversity is at the heart of growing 10 billion trees.
Saudi Arabia is on track to achieve its goal to reduce carbon emissions by 278 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2030. The Kingdom aims to achieve an optimal energy mix for electricity production by having gas and renewable energy at approximately 50% each by 2030. When achieved, this will displace approximately 1 million barrels of liquid fuel currently used.
Since 2022, an additional 2,100 MW of renewable energy has been connected to the grid, bringing the total capacity of installed renewable energy to 2,800 MW (2.8 GW), generating energy equivalent to powering over 520,000 homes. This marks a 300% increase in installed capacity, demonstrating the pace at which Saudi Arabia is accelerating its energy transition. 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.
Saudi Arabia’s efforts to transform its domestic power mix also involves several projects to reduce reliance on liquid fuel and replace it with gas to produce energy. As of December 2023, four high-efficiency gas-fired power plants with a total capacity of approximately 5,600 MW started operation. The Kingdom is also building highly efficient plants equipped with carbon capture and storage technologies, with a total capacity of approximately 8.4 GW.