Regional Climate Initiatives
Across the region, countries including Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have all pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Saudi Arabia has committed $2.5bn over the next ten years to support the Middle East Green Initiative, which aims to combat climate change in the region.
While all these pledges signify a growing commitment to addressing climate change, the region faces significant challenges in balancing its historic economic reliance on fossil fuels with the transition to renewable energy sources. Continued investment, international cooperation and policy implementation will be crucial in achieving these climate goals.
Many of the challenges of scaling low-carbon infrastructure are common to all countries as they undertake their journeys to a net zero future. These include high upfront capital costs, grid and energy system limitations, regulatory and policy barriers, supply chain and resource constraints, workforce and skills gaps, land use and public opposition and technology integration and interoperability to name but a few. Given the commonality of the net zero challenges facing countries in the MENA region and the pan-regional approach that is already been taken to addressing them, there are real opportunities for cooperation across MENA in the areas of climate tech, policy development and financing which will need to be grasped if the region’s ambitious climate targets are to be met.