Saudi Arabia reaffirms commitment to clean energy future, sustainable development

Saudi Arabia has said it is committed to maintaining its national contributions on taking climate actions that will enable sustainable development in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, the national economic diversification plan, and with its responsibilities as a global energy producer and exporter.

The Kingdom said it was also committed to ensure full operational implementation of the historic Paris Climate Agreement, which it ratified last year by active participation in developing the Paris Agreement Implementation Work Program “rule book” at the Conference of Parties’ 23rd session (COP 23) currently in session in Bonn, Germany.

“In particular, we need to work on all energy resources including renewables and conventional fuels. That requires us to adopt a positive, pragmatic, and realistic approach that does not target a particular policy or technology. Because hydrocarbons empowered by clean technology, as part of the wider energy mix, will continue to have a vital role in meeting the sustainable economic - and emission - goals of the Paris Agreement,” said the Kingom's Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih.

Al-Falih said this while delivering Saudi Arabia’s National Statement at the High-Level Segment (HLS) of COP 23, which was attended by heads of state and government, ministers and heads of delegations of several countries.

“As we start the implementation stage I believe we should put to action what we have reached in the Paris Agreement. It already has clear objectives: limiting temperature rise; building resilience; and enabling the finance required to flow. But because they must all be realized within the context of sustainable development, which is vital for achieving climate goals, Saudi Arabia sees an opportunity to fulfil these objectives in all three areas, through the utilization of financial flow in the development and use of clean technologies. We must promote economic growth, cost-effectiveness while achieving the highest emissions reductions from all sources,” Al-Falih said.

He said hydrocarbons, empowered by clean technology, as part of the wider energy mix, will continue to have a vital role if sustainable economic and emission goals of the Paris Agreement are to be met.

The minister stressed that the 2018 work program should achieve three main criteria: First, strict adherence to the political balance achieved in Paris; second, maintaining the nationally identified contributions, on which the agreement was based; and third, meeting all commitments, the most important of which is financing.

He pointed out that for the Kingdom and the wider GCC region, the energy, water and food nexus is critical in ensuring any sustainable development program for the future. It is also key to complying with the Paris Agreement and achieving its objectives.

“That is why the Kingdom’s nationally identified contributions are based on addressing this nexus in a balanced manner by targeting win-win policies and measures that contribute to building resilience,” he said.

Al-Falih added that energy was at the heart of these measures and policies addressed by the conference’s attendees. The minister highlighted the practical achievements of the Kingdom which he described to be real and effective.

He cited a few examples of the Kingdom’s significant achievements in this field : “On conventional fuels, we are doubling our natural gas production to displace the direct burning of crude oil in power generation and water desalination. We also have a CO2-EOR pilot at Uthmaniyah. We have also commissioned the world’s largest CO2-to-chemicals plant in Jubail on our east coast. And on renewables, we have huge ambitions where we recently received historically low bids for a 300MW solar facility to be located in northern Saudi Arabia. The lowest two bids for this project were at less than 2 US cents per kilowatt hour. This is but our first step towards Saudi Arabia becoming a solar energy exploitation, production and even exporting powerhouse.”

Al-Falih also chaired the League of Arab States Climate Change Ministerial Meeting held on the sidelines of COP 23 where he commended and congratulated the performance of the Arab group negotiators during Paris Agreement negotiation and their contribution to the balanced outcome of Paris and the inclusion of key issues of concern to the Arab group.

“It is vital for us to ensure continuation of solidarity and unity of the Arab group on all key issues of concerns and that the strength lays with the group’s continued performance as one strong bloc of countries to achieve greater impact in the negotiations,” he said.

Al-Falih reiterated the same message when hosting the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) Ministerial Meeting later in the day. The LMDC is a group of developing countries who share common interests in climate negotiations and represent more than 50% of the world's population including China, India and well as Saudi Arabia.