Saudi Arabia aims to reach net zero emissions by 2060

Saudi Arabia has pledged to reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) by 2060. In addition, the country, which has just submitted an update of its Nationally Determined Contribution to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), has promised to double the emissions cut it plans to achieve by 2030, from 130 MtCO_2eq/year to 278 MtCO_2eq/year. To do so, the country plans to cover around 50% of its power mix with renewables and up to 50% of the power mix with gas in 2030, and to build a green hydrogen plant fuelled by 4 GW of wind and solar and able to produce 650t/d of green hydrogen by electrolysis and 1.2 Mt/year of green ammonia. Saudi Arabia also intends to develop carbon capture use and storage (CCUS), and to reduce global methane emissions in 2030 by 30% relative to 2020 levels. It will focus on energy efficiency in industry, building and land transportation and plans to retrofit the entire pool of public and governmental assets and facilities.

Meanwhile, the state-owned national oil and gas corporation Saudi Aramco has announced plans to reach net-zero emission from its operations by 2050, while expanding its maximum sustained oil production to 13 mb/d. The company will focus investments on gas production.

Oil covers 62% of the country’s energy needs and gas 38% (2020). Saudi Arabia’s installed capacity is almost entirely thermal and reached 89 GW at the end of 2020 (54% oil and 46% gas). CO₂ energy emissions increased strongly between 1990 and 2015 (+5%/year on average) and have since been decreasing by 2.6%/year, reaching 492 MtCO₂ in 2020.