Context: Recently, Saudi Arabia launched Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative to combat the threat of climate change.
Background

• The ongoing COVID19 pandemic is the need for collective action among members of the international community to effectively address global challenges such as pandemics and climate change.
• The pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis that demands an exceptional global response.
• The motto “safeguard the planet” was one of the main pillars of the Saudi G20 presidency.
• The Saudi leadership of the summit highlighted how climate change had negatively impacted the planet, people’s lives and their wellbeing.
• Saudi Arabia has been sharing its expertise and knowhow with its neighbouring countries to reduce carbon emissions resulting from hydrocarbon production in the region by 60% and globally by 10%.

About Saudi Green Initiative

• It aims to raise the vegetation cover, reduce carbon emissions, combat pollution and land degradation, and preserve marine life.
• Under Saudi Green Initiative, 10 billion trees will be planted in the Kingdom.
• It aims to reduce carbon emissions by more than 4% of global contributions, through a renewable energy programme that will generate 50% of Saudi’s energy from renewables by 2030.
• It aims at raising the percentage of its protected areas to more than 30% of its total land area, representing roughly 6 lakh sq km, exceeding the global target of 17%.

About Middle East Green Initiative

• Under this initiative, Saudi Arabia will work with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and regional partners to plant an additional 40 billion trees in the West Asian region.
• It represents 5% of the global target of planting one trillion trees and reducing 2.5% of global carbon levels.
• It aim to preserve marine and coastal environments, increase the proportion of natural reserves and protected land, improve the regulation of oil production, accelerate the transition to clean energy and boost the amount of energy generated by renewables.

India and Saudi Arabia efforts in tackling climate change

• Saudi Arabia has joined the International Solar Alliance, hence promoting cooperation in the renewable energy sector.
• Several MoUs and agreements in key sectors including renewable energy have been signed.
• Saudi Arabia currently operates the largest carbon capture and utilisation plant in the world, turning half a million tonnes of CO2 annually into products such as fertilizers and methanol.
• It also operates one of the region’s most advanced CO2-enhanced oil recovery plants that captures and stores 8,00,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
• India has made remarkable commitments to tackle climate change and is on track to achieve its Paris Agreement targets.
• India’s renewable energy capacity is the fourth largest in the world.
• India has an ambitious target of achieving 450 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030.