Saudi Arabia's Diriyah Company and the Delaware-based climate technology company Partanna have signed a collaborative agreement to actively explore using the latter's carbon-negative building materials across the $63.2 billion Diriyah mega project.

Partanna plans to establish manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia to serve the Diriyah project and others, the companies said in a joint statement.

The carbon-negative concrete avoids emissions during manufacturing and naturally removes carbon using recycled ingredients.

Currently, 70 percent of Saudi Arabia's drinking water comes from desalination plants. If implemented on a large scale, Partanna's technology can remove millions of units of CO2 daily, reduce the amount of brine that ends up in oceans and waterways, and provide increased freshwater support, the statement said.

Spanning 14 square kilometres, the Diriyah tourism project is expected to attract more than 27 million tourists annually by 2030.

Earlier this month, Diriyah Company said the first phase of its masterplan has been awarded Platinum Level LEED for Cities Certification by the US Green Building Council.

(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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