newspaper saidGuardianBritish, Saturday, said that experts in the field of energy questioned the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s plans to reduce emissions, which they described as “false.”
The newspaper added that Saudi Arabia has been using tactics designed to thwart climate change negotiations for several years, with a focus on carbon capture technologies, which experts say risk delaying the transition from fossil fuels.
Saudi Arabia, which is the second largest oil producer in the world and represents nearly 15 percent of global production, announced plans at the “Cop27” conference in Egypt for what it described as a “circular carbon economy”, in partnership with the national oil company Aramco.
Essentially, the plan includes building the world’s largest carbon capture and storage center, to be operated by Aramco, in the kingdom’s eastern region of Jubail.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the center will start operating in 2027, as it will initially extract and store 9 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, and the amount will rise to about 44 million tons by 2035.
The newspaper pointed out that Saudi Arabia’s focus on carbon capture and storage technology rather than reducing fossil fuel consumption was met with widespread skepticism by experts and observers.
The newspaper quoted the head of Greenpeace for the Middle East, Giwa Nakat, as saying that “all that was presented are illusions and wrong solutions, a waste of time and money.”
He added, “We recognize the difficulty of an economy that was overly dependent on oil for decades in letting go of what it considers a golden age.”
Observers of Saudi Arabia’s tactics in the climate talks say the kingdom’s shift to boosting carbon dioxide capture and storage comes after years of attempts to derail negotiations related to efforts to combat climate change.
The newspaper confirms that Saudi Arabia claims that it intends to reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2060, although this goal depends on carbon dioxide capture and storage.
It turns out that one scientist said carbon capture is a controversial technology that cannot provide the only solution to the climate crisis.
Some fear, according to the newspaper, that this technology will provide a way for fossil fuel companies to continue pollution, while others question the feasibility of carbon capture and storage and the long-term cost proposed by Saudi Arabia and other countries.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment in this regard.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said last week, in a speech on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, that the world had hoped to be “represented” by Saudi Arabia as the largest oil exporter.
The Saudi minister spoke about the Kingdom’s efforts to produce clean energy and reduce its carbon emissions, noting that the Kingdom will monitor the performance of other countries.
He said, “The world wants to represent us. We will ask (countries) of the world what they offer because we want others to emulate us and direct their money to support the causes they rant about.”
He added that the Saudi state oil production company, Aramco, has the lowest level of methane emissions by all standards, and stated that Saudi Arabia is also on the path to achieving zero carbon neutrality by 2060 and possibly earlier.