Saudi Arabia to Channel 50% of Investments in Sustainable Sources

Focusing on the future generations of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom plans to channel 50 % per cent of its investments in renewable and sustainable power sources and intends to issue a green sukuk soon, says the governor of the Saudi’s Public Investment Fund and Saudi Aramco chairman as quoted by Al Arabiya News.

Speaking on Tuesday in New York during a Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute “Health is Wealth” hybrid event, Yasir al-Rumayyan, who is Saudi Aramco chairman, pointed that Saudi Arabia is of the most efficient countries when it comes to sustainability and renewable energy.

FII Institute roundtable was held alongside the 76th session of the UNGA.

Al-Rumayyan also said that Saudi Arabia, with most of its population today under the age of 35, is one of the most efficient countries when it comes to sustainability and renewable energy, well aware that it cannot separate health from economies and from sustainability.

The Aramco chairman noted that PIF and Saudi Arabia, exploring the most urgent challenges facing the world today, are committed to sustainability not only for environmental purposes but also to improve the well-being of humans with sustainable, renewable, and health-focused solutions.

He confirmed that any future partnerships will work in accordance with initiatives such as the Saudi Green Initiative and will have sustainable goals.

Though Saudi Arabia is OPEC’s and the world’s largest oil exporter that accounts for 12.5% of all oil production, it fares much better than other producers with regard to carbon dioxide emissions and is working towards diversifying its economy away from hydrocarbons under its Vision 2030 initiative.

The kingdom plans to generate up to 50% of its electricity from clean sources and to decarbonise its utility systems and PIF has the mandate to develop nearly 70% of Saudi renewable projects that are among the 13 sectors identified as part of its Vision 2030 strategy.

A the fund looks to increase the role that ESG principles play in its investments, Al-Rumayyan announced that PIF will also soon become the world’s sole sovereign fund that will issue green sukuk and is working with the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock to develop an ESG framework.

At the beginning of September, PIF has hired five international banks as members of an ESG panel for its medium-term capital-raising strategy that help the fund set up an ESG framework that would allow it to expand its funding base by attracting ESG-focused investors.

Apart the Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Standard Chartered that were hired to advise PIF’s global capital finance division on an ESG framework for public market capital raisings, Saudi Arabia’s finance ministry also hired HSBC and JPMorgan as structuring agents for the its sustainability financing framework.

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