Saudi Arabia goes on the offensive on climate change

Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters

Saudi Arabia came out fighting on the opening day of the 2024 edition of the Saudi Green Initiative, in response to some strident criticism of the country’s role at the recent Cop29 climate change summit in Baku, Azerbaijan from Western media, backed by environmentalists and mainly European “green” politicians.

“We don’t care,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi energy minister insisted.

“We are not going to be taunted by media outlets here, an analysis there, or a hooligan institution there.”

Over the next 10 days in Riyadh, the kingdom will have the chance to demonstrate the depth of its commitment to the environment as it hosts what is confusingly called “Cop16 on desertification”, ie the 16th occasion on which the UN has convened a conference of the parties (Cop) on this particular subject.  

The shadow of Baku’s Cop29 on climate change still hung in the air in Riyadh. In a rebuttal of accusations that Saudi Arabia had backtracked on climate change commitments, and been obstructive on financial and other measures in Baku, Prince Abdulaziz said that it “follows the rules” in climate change negotiations.

Despite the prince’s professed indifference to the accusations that flew after Baku, it is pretty obvious that he does care when Saudi Arabia’s reputation is denigrated by institutions – media, governments and activists – the kingdom regards as implacably hostile to it, over the climate change debate and many other areas.

To underline the Saudi contribution to the Cop process, Prince Abdulaziz highlighted three specific aspects of the Cop29 agreement that, he said, owed a lot to the skill and persistence of his nation’s negotiating team: the agreement to provide $300 billion of finance to developing countries, the deal to advance a global carbon market under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and some big advances on climate mitigation agreed in Baku.

Naming the young executives who had played a role in these negotiations, Prince Abdulaziz said: “You see our hand in everything.” Western detractors would no doubt agree with that sentiment, but in a rather more negative sense.

There is a real chasm here between how Saudi Arabia and other hydrocarbon producers see the world, and how the Western environmentalists and some in the developing world see it. How that gap can be bridged in the foreseeable future is difficult to see.

There is no disagreement on the core principle. Saudi Arabia was an inaugural signatory to the Paris Agreement and believes as much as any environmental NGO that global warming has to be kept to 1.5 degrees centigrade or below by 2050. This is not a matter of climate change denial.

It is, instead, a debate about means. The “just stop oil” mentality of some in the West would result in economic devastation, Saudi Arabia believes, and many other oil and gas exporters, and importers, agree.

Both sides recognise the need for transition away from hydrocarbons: the disagreement is over the pace and the methods of transition.

‘Fantasy’ versus reality

Amin Nasser, the president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, speaking at a later panel on the opening day of SGI, hammered home his view that moving away from fossil fuels was a “fantasy”, and slammed the “unrealistic views” of policymakers who were pushing for a fast move away from hydrocarbons. 

“Policies will not take care of the economics,” Nasser said.

He was backed up by Patrick Pouyanné, chief executive of the French energy giant TotalEnergies, who was accompanying his beleaguered president, Emmanuel Macron, on an investment visit to Saudi Arabia.

The environmentalists will no doubt say of a crowd of oil men: “They would say that, wouldn’t they?” and start talking about “greenwashing”.

It is very difficult to see the SGI forum as greenwashing. It is too well planned, well resourced and well executed. Anyone who visits must be impressed by the Saudi commitment to “green” policies and realise they are an integral part of the Vision 2030 strategy towards economic diversification.

Its three central targets, to reduce emissions, plant more trees and protect the kingdom’s land and marine environment, are ambitious but achievable – far more than any “just stop oil” simplicity. These will be the focus of Saudi efforts over the next 10 days.

Let us see what the “hooligans” have to say after Cop16. 

Frank Kane is Editor-at-Large of AGBI and an award-winning business journalist. He acts as a consultant to the Ministry of Energy of Saudi Arabia