Saudi Arabia is one of the countries joining the wave of contributing towards the reduction of rising emissions. The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund PIF (Public Investment Fund) and Tadawul stock exchange have decided to launch a voluntary carbon offset market comprising the Middle East and North Africa regions.
The carbon offset market is deemed to be the “primary destination and the main platform for companies and institutes that target reducing their emissions or contributing towards that, through the trading of verified, approved and high-quality carbon equivalent credits certificates,” according to Saudi Arabia’s state-run Spa news agency.
The launch date is not announced yet, however, further details are expected in late October when Riyadh – the political and administrative center of Saudi Arabia, hosts the Middle East Green Initiative Summit. The idea about the initiatives has been hinted at by Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman in late 2019.
Apart from a carbon offset market, the country also participates in the Net Zero Producers Forum founded by the US, Canada, Norway and Qatar. The forum aims to reduce reliance on fossil fuels to limit global warming and discuss ways to achieve that like deploying renewable energy and carbon capture technologies.
Another initiative called the Circular Carbon Economy (CCE) platform was launched by Riyadh in 2020 which is also on a mission to integrate a sustainable approach while producing and exporting oil. The idea of the platform encompasses the notion of the circular economy and aims to promote climate-friendly energy systems that support emissions reduction targets.
The launch of the new carbon offset market shows that climate change is strictly on the agenda of one of the top oil-producing countries in the world. As global greenhouse gases are rising and have been on the climb for decades, there has never been a more urgent need of enforcing new sustainable energy transition initiatives and expanding the most efficient carbon reduction methods developed so far.
