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.
“The true cost of climate change is felt in our hospitals and in our lungs. The health burden of polluting energy sources is now so high, that moving to cleaner and more sustainable choices for energy supply, transport and food systems effectively pays for itself,” says Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.
Household air pollution kills 4 million people a year and tends to affect countries in Africa and Asia, where polluting fuels and technologies are used every day particularly at home for cooking, heating and lighting.
Worldwide, up to 14% of children aged 5 – 18 years have asthma relating to factors including air pollution. Every year, 543 000 children* younger than 5 years die of respiratory disease linked to air pollution. Overall,4.2 million death every year are caused by air pollution.
When CO2 emissions increase in the world, the pollution indicator increases as well.
“When the air pollution is bad, many people in my office develop coughs and sick days are taken. I like to walk or ride a bicycle home, but I always need to check the air quality before leaving work. Today I decided to take the bus home because the air quality reading was 150. I have also cancelled weekend plans with friends due to the unhealthy air levels. It can be very depressing.”
How to reduce CO2 emissions?
China implemented several solutions like Tradable performance standard (TPS) which is a system that reduces its CO2 emissions.
China also started to plant green areas.
By 2030, China will have renewable energy sources account 25% of total energy consumption.
Even though China’s CO2 emissions increased , its pollution indicators decreased. This shows that China is working on controlling its CO2 emissions.
As seen in the above visualizations, that the CO2 emissions increased in China from 2010 to 2017, but its pollution indicator decreased, this shows the effectiveness of the regulations that China imposed.
Recommendations
All countries should implement regulations and policies to reduce its CO2 emissions.
Electric cars should take place, as well as new green areas should be planted to decrease CO2 emissions.
