Today's Edition
Saudi Arabia will launch a greenhouse gas credits scheme early next year that will allow companies to offset their emissions by buying credits from projects that voluntarily cut or remove greenhouse gas emissions, the scheme's website said on Monday.
The Kingdom's Greenhouse Gas Crediting and Offsetting Mechanism (GCOM), launched at the United Nations' MENA Climate Week in Riyadh, aims "to incentivise the deployment of emission reduction and removal activities at scale to support and enable climate-related national strategies, policies, and programs," GCOM's website said.
This step reflects the Kingdom’s leading role in the region in addressing climate challenges and enabling institutions to tackle their emissions. It’s also part of the Kingdom’s efforts to reduce the impact of climate change, under the directions of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, realising the environmental sustainability objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.
The announcement today by the Clean Development Mechanism Designated National Authority on GCOM operation is an implementation of the domestic market mechanism announced by HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Minister of Energy, in November 2022 at the Saudi Green Initiative held during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Participation in the scheme, which aligns with Article 6 of the Paris climate agreement, is voluntary and project-based, covers greenhouse gas and non-greenhouse gas "metrics across all sectors" and is open to the public and private sectors as well as subsidiaries of foreign firms.
GCOM will be accessible to all entities within the Kingdom, offering an incentive for developing activities in emissions reduction and removal to reach the Kingdom’s ambitious Net-Zero target by 2060, Saudi Press Agency reported today.
In alignment with the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), GCOM will support achieving the Saudi Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), unlocking a myriad of financial opportunities among national entities striving to meet their climate objectives.
A year ago, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, said it would set up the Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (RVCMC) with Saudi's Tadawul Group, operator of the Riyadh-based Saudi Exchange.
(with inputs from Reuters, SPA)
