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RIYADH:– Speaking at the Middle East Green Initiative Summit in Riyadh, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan said climate change is one of humanity’s “biggest crises”, prompting the country to plant billions of trees and shift its energy towards clean sources.
Prime Minister Khan said: "Humanity faces probably one of its biggest crises. Unfortunately this crisis was quite visible 20 years ago, but somehow we were all in self-denial. No one thought that this would actually happen, that the temperature was getting warmer. No one believed there would be effects of this.
"Once you alter the balance of nature, there are always going to be implications. Just in the last two years, we have seen fires in Siberia, in California, in the Mediterranean and Australia.
Prime Minister Khan highlighted the action Pakistan is taking to combat climate change and emissions, including planting billions of trees and converting coal projects to hydroelectricity.
He said: "We will shift 60% of all our energy into clean energy by 2030. 30% of all transport will be shifted to electric vehicles by 2030. We already shelved 2400 megawatts of coal projects, and replaced them with 3700 megawatts of hydroelectricity, and then committed there would be no new coal projects in Pakistan. The only energy through coal will be gasifications and that’s using local coal that is in Pakistan.
"We also focused on nature-based solutions. We have invested in planting 10 billion trees, and have already planted 2.5 billion. Pakistan is the only country where mangrove carbon is growing. Mangroves absorb the highest amount of carbon emissions – we plan to plant 1 billion more of these trees by 2023."
Earlier, HRH the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced a series of regional programs for climate action to an audience of dozens of heads of state at the event. On Saturday, HRH the Crown Prince also revealed that Saudi Arabia is aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2060 through the Carbon Circular Economy approach.
The Middle East Green Initiative called for intensifying coordination and joint action to preserve and develop the importance of the environment and vegetation cover in Africa, in addition to establishing the Green Initiative Foundation as an independent non-profit entity to support the summit and raise the level of coordination.
High-level attendees at the Middle East Green Summit include Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Imran Khan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tunisia Najla Bouden, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Morocco Aziz Akhannouch, Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President of the Libyan Presidential Council H.E. Mohamed Younis Menfi, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Crown Prince of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan His Royal Highness Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, Amir of the State of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and Minister of Finance.
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For media queries, please contact media@saudigreeninitiative.org
Event live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpmt7CObQRY
© Press Release 2021
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