As part of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) since it’s establishment in 1960 in Iraq, Saudi Arabia has been reliant on fuel exports and revenue.
As shown in the graph below, the Kingdom has been one of the major exporters of fuel around the world and contributed to the rapid growth, industrialization and development of economies.

However, in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and as witnessed in the chart below, Saudi Arabia has been working on diversifying its economy away from a near 100% reliance on oil related revenues for a more sustainable future.
Fuel exports constituted 99.7% of merchandise exports in 1968, while they only represented 79.62% of total merchandise exports in 2019.
This share further decreased to 67.62% in 2020, due to the reduction in demand for fuel as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the disruption in travel, and manufacturing among other things.

The reduction in fuel export translates into a reduction in reliance on fuel related revenue. As such, the Kingdom is looking into diversifying its revenue sources, by building and expanding other sectors of activity (tourism, education and technology) also as part of the Vision 2030.
The latter also entails investing in renewable energy and shifting towards greener energy production, as stated in the SDG 7.
To this end, Saudi Arabia today is home to the largest wind farm in the Middle East, the 400 megawatts Dumat Al Jandal Wind Farm. The project is expected to provide clean energy to around 70,000 households in Saudi. We can also state, the 300 MW South Jeddah Noor Solar Project but also Mega projects like The Line – NEOM that is expected to be an example of the sustainable city of tomorrow and an application of SDG 11.