The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia concluded its participation in the 26th World Energy Congress (WEC), held in the city of Rotterdam in the Kingdom of The Netherlands from April 22 to 25, 2024. The renowned gathering touched on multiple energy issues, citing the transformations taking place in this vital field and the need to improve and modernize the management of these transformations in a fair, equitable, and sustainable manner.
The Saudi pavilion, held under the slogan “Sustainable Energy -- A Shared Future," was the largest private pavilion in the exhibition. It reviewed the various national programs and initiatives that are emerging from Saudi Vision 2030, and it represented 22 government and private entities showcasing interactive presentations about the efforts made by the Kingdom considering the changes witnessed by the global energy sector, as well as its tireless efforts to confront the effects of climate change.
The Saudi pavilion witnessed the holding of 33 discussion panels addressing the Kingdom's efforts in developing clean energy sectors, through the National Renewable Energy Program and the Optimal Energy Mix Program, which aim to raise the share of renewable energy in electricity production to 50% by 2030. Those discussion panels further highlighted the Kingdom's efforts in providing energy efficiency solutions for residential, commercial and industrial sectors and touched upon the Liquid Fuel Displacement Program which aims at displacing 1 million barrels of liquid fuels by 2030. They also featured an explanation of the Carbon Circular Economy (CCE) approach, launched by the Kingdom in 2020 during its presidency of the G20 Summit. CCE is an integrated and comprehensive framework to address and manage the challenges of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) through 4s (Reduction, Reuse, Recycling, Removal). It also showcased the efforts to accelerate the application of emission reduction and removal techniques, including Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CUSS) and the production of low-carbon hydrogen. The panels underlined the role of current investments and technologies in creating opportunities for achieving ambitious climate targets.
The pavilion reviewed the initiatives falling under the Saudi Green Initiative, based on the Kingdom's plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 or earlier if the necessary technologies are mature and available. That goal will be reached by reducing emissions by 278 million tons per year by 2030, and by introducing the Kingdom's plans in the Green Middle East Initiative, designed to reduce the impact of climate change through regional cooperation.
Nominated by the World Energy Council (WEC), the Saudi Ministry of Energy will host the 27th edition of the World Energy Congress in the capital, Riyadh, from October 26 to 29, 2026. The more than 70-member WEC represents more than 3,000 entities from the global energy system.
