RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Wasel on Monday emphasized the importance of “adopting sustainable and cost-effective methods to achieve ambitious climate goals.” Al-Wasel’s comments came during a speech at the Group of 77 + China ambassadorial meeting at UN headquarters in New York, titled “Carbon capture, utilization and storage — technology for ensuring an equitable road forward for energy.” “The Kingdom believes that it is critical to activate technology to address significant environmental concerns like climate change, biodiversity loss, energy security and access for everyone, and environmental protection,” he said. The world’s major challenges necessitate unprecedented levels of open, inclusive and coherent cooperation in order to ensure sustainable economic growth, address environmental concerns and ensure energy security and access, he added. He further emphasized the Kingdom’s commitment to international action and collaboration to tackle climate change. In light of the Saudi Green and Middle East Green initiatives, the Kingdom has launched programs in the areas of environmental protection and energy transformation to contribute to a sustainable future, he explained. “The Kingdom has proposed the circular carbon economy framework, adopted by the G20 during the Kingdom’s presidency of the group, which is an integrated framework for addressing the challenges of greenhouse gas emissions and represents a sustainable way to manage emissions through strategies like [reduction, reuse, recycling and removal],” he said. By implementing the concept of a circular carbon economy, he explained, the Kingdom aims to achieve sustainable economic growth while also promoting integrated solutions to climate change. During his speech at the Saudi Green Initiative Forum in Riyadh in October 2021, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the Kingdom aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The crown prince added that Saudi Arabia also aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 278 million tons per year by 2030 and that the adoption of the circular carbon economy, based on zero waste, will help reach the target. Dr. Sattam Al-Mojil, assistant professor of environmental engineering at King Saud University, confirmed that adopting an international approach to managing harmful emissions, agreed upon by industrialized countries, will contribute to confronting climate change and achieving sustainability of resources and energy. Al-Mojil, who is also head of the technical team for green buildings and sustainability at the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization, told Arab News: “These ambitious goals can be achieved through the adoption of local and international initiatives, such as tree planting and the use of advanced technologies that reduce emitted gases or convert them into gases that are less harmful. “We believe that current and future measures to reduce emissions will have a positive impact protect the Earth.”