Today is Friday, September 08, 2023.
Saudi Arabia, a nation traditionally heavily dependent on oil for energy, recognizes the urgency to transition to greener practices and is pushing for renewables and carbon credit trading.
Interesting to see the actions going on under the Saudi Green Initiative:
(1) target to achieve a 50 percent renewable energy mix by 2030;
(3) plant more than 600 million trees;
and (4) creation of the Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (RVCMC), backed by the nation’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and and Saudi Tadawul Group.
RVCMC conducted Middle East’s inaugural carbon offset auction in Riyadh in October 2022, leading to the sale of more than 1.4 million tons of carbon credits, from projects across Africa, from countries such as Egypt, Mauritania, South Africa, Uganda and Kenya.
More recently, last 14 June 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya, RVCMC participated in another round of voluntary auction of carbon credits, with projects from Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt and South Africa. More than two million tons of carbon credits - Corsia and officially registered with Verra - were sold to 15 buyers, among which Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company, Saudi Airlines and other companies from Saudi Arabia and Africa.
RVCMC CEO Mrs. Riham El Gizy emphasizes the broader impact here: “The voluntary carbon market is financing those projects that otherwise were uneconomic without the voluntary carbon market.”
RVCMC plans to launch a carbon credit trading platform early next year.
Click at the image below for this great and educative article at Al Arabiya News.
Saudi Arabia is also facing "awkward" impacts of climate change. Recall here this post from January 2023 "Weather of Arabia: the rain turning the desert green, causing floods and even impacting a rally".
