• Saudi Arabia recently committed 2.5 billion USD to the Middle East Green Initiative.

• The Middle East Green Initiative is a first-of-its-kind regional alliance that was launched by the Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2021 to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the Middle East. It has a clearly defined strategy for regional climate action, ensuring a coordinated and localized response to climate change that is affecting the region.
• It aims to reduce carbon emissions in the region by more than 60 per cent – more than 670 million tons of carbon equivalent. This plan includes increasing green cover by planting over 50 billion trees across the Middle East and restoring 200 million hectares of degraded land. It also seeks to increase the green land and marine reserves to 30 per cent of the total national area. The initiative will reduce the global carbon levels by 2.5 per cent.

• The MGI Summit is a regional dialogue on climate that brings together countries from Middle East and North Africa. The inaugural edition of the summit was hosted by Saudi Arabia in 2021.

Source- The Hindu