Saudi Arabia: (1) Strengthen country’s Paris Agreement pledge; (2) Adhere to previously announced policies aimed at diversifying its energy mix.
Yes, Saudi Arabia should strengthen its INDC emission reduction pledge to the Paris Agreement by increasing the amount of GHG emission avoidance from the current targeted rate of 130 MtCO2e/year to 390 MtCO2e/year by 2030 to meet its minimum fair contribution (Climate Action Tracker, 2017). Specifically, Climate Tracker reports: “The actions and plans outlined in this submission seek to achieve mitigation co-benefits ambitions of up to 390 million tons of CO2eq avoided by 2030 annually through contributions to economic diversification and adaptation.”
Saudi Arabia can further reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by strengthening and accelerating the pace of implementation of its existing policies and programs. Specifically, Saudi Arabia should adhere to the previously planned policies aimed at diversifying the energy mix to achieve 54 GW of renewable and 17 GW of nuclear energy by 2030 rather than the much reduced plan that aims to achieve just 9.5 GW of renewable and with no reference is made to nuclear power. Moreover, the Kingdom needs to speed up the implementation of the 30 currently-planned projects and programs that will produce 9.5GW of energy of renewables over the next seven years in a shorter span of time, say 5 years instead.
Learn More
Climate Action Tracker
http://climateactiontracker.org/countries/saudiarabia.html
The Intended Nationally Determined Contribution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the UNFCCC. Accessed from
http://www4.unfccc.int/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Saudi%20Arabia/1/KSA-INDCs%20English.pdf
Saudi Energy Minister Announces ‘new phase’ in Kingdom’s power generation as first round bids for Renewable Energy Projects opened. The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO), Press release, April 17, 2017. Accessed from
https://www.powersaudiarabia.com.sa/web/attach/news/Press-Release-SAREIF-17%20April-EN.pdf