Saudi Arabia has used its year in the G20 presidency to promote its circular carbon economy scheme, which it says will lower carbon emissions if adopted worldwide, while maintaining abundant energy supplies.
The circular carbon economy concept has been endorsed by G20 member states but has yet to be put into practice, and the kingdom has not revealed any timelines or targets associated with the plan.
The Saudi climate change mitigation scheme is based on "four R's" -- reduction, reuse, removal and recycling of carbon -- aimed at lowering the amount of carbon emissions being released into the atmosphere. Under this umbrella, initiatives such planting trees as natural carbon sinks, and increasing the capacity of carbon capture storage, sequestration and utilization projects, have been proposed by Saudi Arabia.
Notably, presentations on the topic given recently by Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman did not mention any reduction in hydrocarbon production.
