Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah has affirmed Kuwait’s commitment to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 in the oil and gas sector and in other sectors by 2060.
In remarks to KUNA on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP27 and the Middle East Green Initiative Summit currently held in Egypt, the Kuwaiti minister stated that Kuwait has executed many projects to preserve the environment and reduce emissions.
The minister said Kuwait will stick to all the commitments it made since the launching of the first climate conference in the Brazilian capital in 1992 all the way to the Paris conference in 2015.
He said Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah took part in the two summits and addressed important messages in which he highlighted Kuwait’s efforts on reducing carbon emissions while addressing the Middle East Green Initiative summit held on sidelines of COP27 and cited projects to expand green areas.
The Middle East Green Initiative was launched by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year as part of efforts to reduce regional carbon emissions.
Sheikh Salem also said that one of the UN summit’s goals is to encourage world countries to announce specific dates to reach carbon neutrality, indicating that Kuwait had pledged to reach that objective by 2050.
It is one of many countries committed to reaching carbon neutrality.
In October 2021, the UAE also announced an ambitious initiative to reduce carbon emissions by 2050. The plan will invest Dh600 billion in clean and renewable energy sources over the next three decades.
Egypt is currently hosting the UN Climate Change Conference in November 2022 (COP27) while the UAE will host COP28 in 2023.
Both Middle Eastern countries were announced as the successors to host the climate change summit during COP26, where nearly 200 countries have gathered in Glasgow, in the United Kingdom, to take concerted action to cap global greenhouse gas emissions and unite against climate change.