Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia unveiled five new initiatives, valued at $60 million (SR 225 million), reinforcing the Kingdom's leading role on climate and environment efforts.

The initiatives were announced on the fourth edition of the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) Forum, which began on Tuesday, coinciding with the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP16) in Riyadh.

Five new initiatives, led by Ma’aden, Morooj Foundation in partnership with the private sector, and the Tanmiah Food Company, represent a $60 million investment to accelerate afforestation efforts. These initiatives aim to plant millions of trees and mangroves, scatter 300 million seeds, rehabilitate degraded land, reduce air pollution, and enhance biodiversity across the Kingdom.

With total investment exceeding $188 billion (SR 705 billion), the 86 initiatives activated as part of SGI are delivering tangible progress towards the aims of all three Rio Conventions. The Saudi Green Initiative is a key vehicle to deliver Saudi Arabia’s goal to create a greener future for all by reducing emissions, combating desertification, and safeguarding natural ecosystems.

The Kingdom is advancing towards net-zero by 2060, driven by the Circular Carbon Economy approach. Central to this effort is the Saudi Green Initiative target to reduce emissions by 278 million tons per year and optimize the domestic energy mix to achieve nearly 50 percent of electricity generation capacity from renewable sources by 2030. In line with these goals, Saudi Arabia plans to increase renewable energy capacity to 130 gigawatts (GW) by 2030. Of this capacity, 6.2 GW is already connected to the grid, and 20 GW of projects were launched this year. Currently, 44.2 GW are under development—enough to supply more than 7 million homes with clean electricity.

To achieve the goal of displacing over one million barrels of liquid fuel daily, highly efficient gas-fired power stations with carbon capture readiness will provide a total capacity of 42 GW of electricity generation capacity. Four stations with a capacity of 5.6 GW are already operational, and 9 GW are under construction across five stations. An additional 21 GW has been awarded for construction, and 6 GW is to be tendered in 2025.

Construction is underway on one of the world’s largest carbon capture, transport, and storage centers in Jubail, targeting the capture of 9 million tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2027. Additionally, the Saudi Energy Efficiency Program continues to achieve substantial energy savings and contribute to sustainable economic development, reducing approximately 539,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily by the end of 2023—a 9.5 percent increase compared to 2022.

Saudi Arabia has planted over 100 million trees and shrubs since the launch of SGI in 2021, alongside dispersing millions of seeds to further expand green coverage and combat sand encroachment. The Kingdom has also rehabilitated over 118,000 hectares of degraded land—an area larger than 165,000 FIFA-regulation sized football fields—advancing the interim goal of rehabilitating 8 million hectares by 2030.

Through its afforestation efforts, Saudi Arabia aims to provide essential protection against extreme heat to safeguard current and future generations. These afforestation efforts mark a pivotal step toward Saudi Arabia’s long-term goal of growing 10 billion trees, enhancing resilience to desertification and improving quality of life across the Kingdom.

To date, 18.1 percent of Saudi Arabia’s land and 6.49 percent of its marine environments — spanning nearly 400,000 sq. km — are under protection, advancing the Kingdom’s target of safeguarding 30 percent of its land and marine areas by 2030. Saudi Arabia’s conservation efforts also reached a series of historic milestones. Since the launch of the Saudi Green Initiative in 2021, over 7,000 endangered species have been rewilded in the Kingdom’s nature reserves, including Arabian oryx, Arabian and sand gazelles, and Nubian ibex.

In 2024, four cheetah cubs were born — the first in Saudi Arabia in over 40 years — marking a significant achievement under the National Cheetah Conservation Strategy. Additionally, over 110 endangered red-necked ostrich chicks hatched in wildlife breeding centers in 2024, indicating the success of the reintroduction of the species, which went extinct in the wild 100 years ago.

The Ibex Reserve and King Salman Royal Nature Reserve were also added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List, further recognizing Saudi Arabia’s progress in implementing effective management and conservation programs, it was pointed out.