COP16 in Riyadh: Can Saudi Arabia balance climate tech Investment with oil interests?

This week, Riyadh is hosting the United Nations COP16 conference on drought and desertification — topics close to home for the Gulf kingdom, whose officials have said they aim to restore 40 million hectares of degraded land, reported nukta.com

But while the country is a major investor in climate tech, it has not abandoned its longstanding defence of oil, and critics say its gestures toward environmental friendliness offer only limited benefits.

Saudi Arabia accounts for nearly 75 percent of Middle East investment in climate technology start-ups worldwide, according to a 2023 report by auditor PwC.

But its investment in green tech skews towards energy, with $363 million ploughed into climate-friendly energy solutions — nearly 10 times as much as was invested in innovations related to food, agriculture and land-use, PwC said.

One project that could prove beneficial to the kingdom in the desert north of Jeddah, is using microorganisms to reduce the energy cost of treating wastewater. According to a science and engineering academic, the process relies on microorganisms that convert carbon into methane gas, which is collected and used to produce energy for the facility. The filtered water could be used to grow micro algae to produce feed for livestock, irrigate plants and trees.

Moreover, as part of the Middle East Green Initiative, Saudi Arabia aims to eventually plant 10 billion trees and rehabilitate over 74 million hectares of land, (says the project’s website), and to achieve these ambitions, efficient management of water and soil resources remains essential.

The kingdom is also working on transforming desert into fertile land, and according to another environmental science and engineering expert, it will be done by transforming sand into soil. “The carbon-enriched compost made from chicken manure — an abundant and underused resource in Saudi Arabia — is developed a step further than normal fertiliser.”

He added that by selling its carbonated topsoil, made from local waste, Saudi Arabia could become an exporter of both the product and its technology.

In addition to combating desertification, the kingdom is focusing on technologies such as carbon capture and hydrogen production as part of what it calls a “circular carbon economy.”

But critics have labelled these efforts greenwashing, saying they aim to allow continued investment in fossil fuels.

In May 2024, the European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR) said the Saudi Green Initiative “conceals the country’s ongoing reliance on fossil fuels and contempt for environmental justice behind lofty sustainability promises”.

Riyadh, however, justifies the policy as necessary for its energy security.