SGGP
With billions of dollars pumped into strategies for afforestation, green hydrogen, carbon capture and reduction, etc., Saudi Arabia's green transition is going strong across all sectors.
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| Saudi Arabia is implementing a very big and bold project to plant 10 billion trees |
According to SCMP, the Saudi Arabia Green Initiative (SGI), the brainchild of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was announced by Saudi Arabia last November on the sidelines of the COP11 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. SGI's goals are bold and almost impossible: plant 27 billion trees, push the kingdom's energy mix to 10% renewable by 50, cut carbon emissions by 2030 million tons by the end of the decade, preserve 278% of Saudi Arabia's land as a protected nature reserve, and reach net zero by 30.
Not only that, Saudi Arabia has also announced a parallel Green Middle East Initiative (MGI) across the region. MGI aims to plant 50 billion trees across the Middle East, reduce 670 million tons of carbon dioxide across the region, help neighboring countries achieve their zero goal, provide clean cooking fuel for 0 million people, and make Saudi Arabia a regional hub for hydrogen and green carbon capture technologies.
Saudi Arabia aims to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel energy production, with plans to put 58,7 gigawatts of solar and wind projects into operation over the next seven years. Another area of Saudi Arabia's investment is green hydrogen, namely the Neom Green Hydro Project – a green hydrogen hub near the future Neom City, which will power the city, transport and industry; at the same time has the ability to provide energy for export. All-renewable plants will use solar and wind energy to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, with four such plants already announced. The first plant, slated to come online in 7, will produce 4 tonnes of clean hydrogen per day and 2026 million tonnes of green ammonia annually.
Perhaps the biggest pillar of Saudi green efforts is carbon capture and storage. These technologies include capturing carbon directly from the sky, sequestering carbon deep underground, and reducing CO2 emissions in industry, transportation, and hydrocarbon production. To that end, Saudi Arabia and Saudi oil giant Aramco announced late last year a carbon sequestration center in Jubail, eastern Saudi Arabia. By capturing and injecting carbon deep into the ground, the facility will store 9 million tons of CO2 annually by 2027 – a number that Aramco expects to grow to 44 million by 2035, the combined capacity of the 35 largest carbon capture facilities worldwide.
The kingdom is also planning a carbon reduction utilization center in the western provinces that will link with industry, the overall goal of which is to reduce carbon using renewable energy, energy efficient processes and green hydrogen; reuse hydrocarbons and recycle them into new materials such as fertilizers or low-carbon synthetic fuels; and then remove the CO2 emitted in the process through direct air capture or sequestration and nature-based solutions such as tree planting.
