Saudi Arabia Says They Want to a ‘Achieve a Green Future,’ But They Forgot One Important Thing

Saudi Arabia produces 10.84 million barrels of oil a day, which makes up 11 percent of the world’s total export.

So it came as a bit of a surprise at last week’s United Nations climate conference, COP27, in Sharm el-Egypt, when the Saudi government announced a plan for “a greener future and better quality of life” but didn’t mention cutting oil production.

The ambitious plan calls for afforestation and biodiversity, emissions reduction, investments in alternative energy, the establishment of new protected areas, and plans for a new carbon capture and storage hub.

But some climate experts were not impressed.

“Saudi Arabia would be better placed to focus on cutting emissions rather than relying on carbon capture and storage and questionable reductions from planting trees, the offsets of which would simply allow them to continue increasing emissions from burning fossil fuels,” said Mia Moisio, an energy policy expert at the New Climate Institute think tank.

To read more about this controversial topic, head over to Grist.