While the G7 Nations are thinking about whining themselves off fossil fuels by the end of the century and while some – most ? – oil companies are not really diversifying themselves, Saudi Arabia is planning its fossil fuels’ exit by 2040 or 2050.
But don’t worry, they still plan on exporting ridiculously high amounts of energy with renewables. Yes ! you read that right. What has been and still is a major oil producer plans to go solar.
While this doesn’t come as a surprise if you have been reading this blog for some time, the scale the country is going for is astounding.
Here are some extracts of a Guardian article :
So what to make of the statement by Saudi Arabia’s oil minister that the world’s biggest oil exporter could stop using fossil fuels as soon as 2040 and become a “global power” in solar and wind energy?
Ali Al-Naimi’s statement is striking as Saudi Arabia’s wealth and influence is entirely founded on its huge oil wealth and the nation has been one of the strongest voices against climate change action at UN summits.
“In Saudi Arabia, we recognise that eventually, one of these days, we’re not going to need fossil fuels,” said Naimi at a business and climate conference in Paris on Thursday. “I don’t know when – 2040, 2050 or thereafter. So we have embarked on a program to develop solar energy,” he said in comments reported by the Guardian, Bloomberg and the Financial Times.
“Hopefully, one of these days, instead of exporting fossil fuels, we will be exporting gigawatts of electric power.”
Naimi also said he did not think that continuing low crude oil prices would make solar power uneconomic: “I believe solar will be even more economic than fossil fuels.”
So what if the ENTIRE WORLD planned its fossil fuels’ exit by mid-century ? I have a dream today…
Image credits : The Guardian.