RIYADH —
Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it has named a senior diplomat as its first
climate envoy, as officials vow to ramp up oil production while pursuing
ambitious goals for emission cuts.
اضافة اعلان
The appointment of
Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, to the envoy role
was announced as part of a series of royal orders decreed by
King Salman. The
announcement did not include details about the envoy’s mandate. Jubeir, who
previously served as foreign minister and ambassador to Washington, will
continue in his role at the foreign ministry.
Saudi Arabia, the
world’s top oil exporter, has been cashing in on the spike in energy prices
resulting from
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In early May, Saudi Arabia
announced that economic growth in the first quarter had risen 9.6 percent
compared to the same period in 2021, which the statistics authority said
represented “the highest growth rate in (the) last 10 years”.
It has resisted US
entreaties to raise oil output in an attempt to bring prices down in the wake
of the Ukraine war, instead stressing its commitment to the OPEC+ oil alliance,
which Riyadh and Moscow lead.
Saudi energy
minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said earlier this month that the country
expected to ramp up its daily oil production capacity by more than one million
barrels to exceed 13 million barrels by 2027. Yet last year, Saudi Arabia
pledged ahead of the
COP26 climate change summit to achieve net zero carbon
emissions by 2060, sparking skepticism from environmental campaign group
Greenpeace. With increasing urgency to
limit global warming, experts warn of the need to reduce fossil fuel use.
Speaking on a panel last
week at the
World Economic Forum in Davos, Saudi economy minister Faisal
Al-Ibrahim disputed the notion that his country’s policies were in conflict.
“We will continue to advocate increased capacity. We will also continue to
advocate... reducing emissions,” he said. “These two points do not contradict
each other. The last thing we want is focusing on climate change without
focusing on energy security.”
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