NEOM, April 22 (INP): Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman stressed that achieving sustainable development requires a comprehensive methodology that takes into account the different development circumstances around the world, adding that enhancing the level of international cooperation is the optimal solution to meet the challenges of climate change.

King Salman made the remarks in his speech during the opening session of the Leaders’ Summit on Climate on Thursday.

Speaking during the two-day virtual summit, the Custodian of the Two Holy mosques thanked US President Joe Biden for holding the summit as part of efforts to combat climate change that threatens life on our planet.

Addressing the world leaders, King Salman said: “These challenges recognize no national borders. The objective is sustainable development. And in order to achieve this, there must be a comprehensive methodology that takes into account the different development circumstances around the world.”

He said that Saudi Arabia has incorporated the notions of sustainable development into its Vision 2030, laying down a slew of strategies and regulations such as the National Environmental Strategy with the aim of producing 50 percent of the Kingdom's energy need by 2030 using clean renewable sources.

“Enhancing the level of international cooperation is the optimal solution to meet the challenges of climate change. During our G20 presidency last year, we advocated the need to adopt the notion of the circular carbon economy, launching two international initiatives to curb land degradation and to protect coral reefs,” the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques pointed out.

He said the two new initiatives — the “Saudi Green Initiative” and the “Middle East Green Initiative” — recently announced by the Crown Prince aim at reducing carbon emissions in the region by more than 10% of the global contribution. They also aim at planting 50 billion trees in the region in addition to a number of unique initiatives.

“These two initiatives have been endorsed by the international community. We will work with our partners to achieve their goals by hosting this year, the Green Saudi Initiative Forum and Middle East Green Initiative Summit,” King Salman added.

He expressed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to combating climate change, saying: “We would like to affirm our keenness on and commitment to cooperation to combat climate change in order to create a better environment for future generations, wishing success for our efforts to protect our planet.”