LONDON: Saudi Arabias crown prince announced two new initiatives to tackle climate change on Saturday. The Green Saudi Initiative and the Green Middle East Initiative aim to clearly define a road map that will protect the planet and significantly contribute to achieving global targets in confronting climate change. “As a leading global oil producer, the Kingdom fully recognizes its share of responsibility in advancing the fight against the climate crisis. Just as the Kingdom underpinned energy markets during the oil and gas era, it is going to become a global leader in forging a greener world,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced said.  Prince Mohammed said that the Kingdom and the region face significant climate challenges such as desertification which is an immediate economic risk to the Middle East. He added that $13 billion is lost due to sand storms in the Middle East annually and air pollution from greenhouse gases is estimated to have shortened average Saudi life expectancy by 1.5 years.  “Through the Green Saudi Initiative, we will work to raise vegetation cover, reduce carbon emissions, combat pollution and land degradation, and preserve marine life,” Prince Mohammed said.  “This initiative will include a number of ambitious initiatives; most notably the planting of 10 billion trees in the Kingdom in the upcoming decades, the equivalent to rehabilitating roughly 40 million hectares of degraded lands, translating to a 12-fold increase in the current area that is covered by trees,” he said.  This represents the Kingdoms contribution of more than four percent in achieving the goals of the global initiative to limit the degradation of lands and fungal habitats, and one percent of the global target to plant 1 trillion trees, he added.  The Green Saudi Initiative will also work to reduce carbon emissions by more than four percent of global contributions through an ambitious renewable energy program that will generate 50 percent of the Kingdom’s energy from renewables by 2030, the crown prince said.