NEW YORK — Ambassador Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Wasel, Saudi Arabia's permanent representative to the United Nations, emphasized that Saudi Arabia strives, through its application of the concept of the carbon economy, to achieve economic growth in sustainable ways as well as to promote integrated solutions to confront the phenomenon of climate change. "Saudi Arabia has put forward the framework of the circular carbon economy, which was adopted by the G20 summit when the Kingdom held its presidency in 2020. This concept is an integrated framework to address the challenges arising from greenhouse gas emissions, and represents a sustainable way to manage emissions through strategies such as reduction, reuse, recycling, and removal," he said. Al-Wasel made the remarks while addressing the ambassadorial level meeting of the Group of 77 and China at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The session was held under the title of "Carbon extraction, utilization and storage: The essential technology to achieve a just energy path forward." The Saudi representative highlighted the significance of adopting a sustainable and comprehensive approach to emissions management. He also underscored the need to activate technologies and solutions such as the carbon circular economy, which will contribute to addressing climate change, sustainable economic growth. He highlighted the importance of adopting sustainable, practical and effective methods compared to their cost in order to achieve ambitious climate goals. Ambassador Al-Wasel said that the major challenges facing the world require an unprecedented level of open and comprehensive interconnected cooperation to ensure sustainable economic growth, address the challenges of climate change, the environment and biodiversity, and ensure energy security and access to energy. "Environmental challenges, including climate change, require the adoption of a balanced and fair approach to a gradual and responsible transition to more sustainable energy sources," he said. The Saudi ambassador stressed that the Kingdom believes in the importance of activating technologies to address urgent environmental challenges, such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, energy security and access to all, and environmental protection. He emphasized the Kingdom's commitment to international action and cooperation to combat climate change, and its belief in the importance of this in achieving global goals to address environmental challenges. He pointed out that in light of the initiatives of green Saudi Arabia and the green Middle East, the Kingdom has launched a package of initiatives in the areas of environmental protection, energy conversion, and sustainability programs to contribute to building a sustainable future.
