Updated First Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

These Updated First Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) is a nationwide multi-sectoral document aiming at reflecting the Kingdom’s efforts to comply with the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Paris Agreement by engaging in actions and plans to pursuit the economic diversification with the following co-benefits (i) greenhouse gas emission avoidance, reduction and removal; (ii) climate adaptation; and (iii) managing the impacts of response measures, maximizing long-term benefits and minimizing potential negative side effects. The aim is reducing and avoiding GHG emissions by 278 million tons of CO2eq annually by 2030, with the year 2019 designated as the base year for this NDC. The document presents two possible scenarios different in the allocation of hydrocarbons produced for either domestic consumption or export. While exported hydrocarbons will not contribute to the GHG emissions of Saudi Arabia, the domestic consumption will increase its GHG emissions.
To make agriculture and forestry more productive and sustainable, the document proposes to (i) increase the use of treated wastewater in agriculture so that to reduce the need for groundwater; (ii) encourage rainwater harvesting to be used for potable and irrigation water; (iii) employ new irrigation techniques such as surface irrigation, drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, subsurface irrigation; (iv) improve land management practices, especially for agriculture and forestry; (v) develop Integrated Water Management Planning.
Development and enhancement of arid and semi-arid rural areas through various natural resource conservation activities, biodiversity and ecosystem-based adaptation efforts is the tool proposed to reduce rural poverty.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the NDC focuses on different sectors and envisages to (i) improve and raise the efficiency of energy consumption in the targeted sectors (i.e. home appliances and air conditioning units, feedstock utilization, inefficient used light-duty vehicles and aerodynamic regulation for heavy-duty vehicles); (ii) diversify the energy mix used in electricity production to reach around 50% of the energy mix by 2030, increasing the utilization of natural gas; (iii) stimulate private sector investment, research and development, employment in renewables; (iv) become a global leader in green hydrogen production using high-yield solar and wind resources; (v) transform Jubail and Yanbu into global hubs for carbon capture, utilization and storage by leveraging the concentration of the manufacturing industry, proximity to sinks and transport infrastructures; (vi) produce blue hydrogen through the process of Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS); (vii) develop the methane emission management; (viii) deploy desalination technologies to minimize the GHG emissions; (ix) minimize leaks in the potable water distribution system to save desalinated potable water and avoid the need for new desalination plants; (x) increase the storage of surface water runoff through constructing new dams; (xi) implement coastal management strategies to reduce coastal erosion, increase the sinks for blue carbon, maintain related ecosystems and address the threats that climate change poses for marine livelihood; (xii) plant mangrove seedlings along the coasts and strengthen the coral reef restoration; (xiii) enhance desertification management by promoting the stabilization of sand movements around cities and roads through using green belts as barriers; (xiv) plant trees to combat desertification; (xv) develop mass transport systems in urban areas; (xvi) develop EWS that would reduce vulnerability due to extreme weather events such as rainstorms, floods and dust storms by increasing resilience of infrastructure.