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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/15/170000-a-minute-why-saudi-arabia-is-the-biggest-blocker-of-climate-action>
"Can you imagine someone giving you $170,000 (£129,000)? What would you buy?
Can you imagine getting another $170,000 one minute later? And the handouts
then continuing every minute for years? If so, you have a feel for the colossal
cash machine that is Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco, the world’s
biggest producer of oil and gas last year.
That tidal wave of cash keeps the authoritarian kingdom afloat, as it lavishes
money on fossil fuel subsidies for its citizens, soft power projects like the
football World Cup and mind-boggling construction projects.
But it is also why the drive for accelerating climate action, principally
getting the world off fossil fuels, is seen as an existential threat to Saudi
Arabia: its economy and even its ruling royal family.
For decades, Saudi Arabia has fought harder than any other country to block and
delay international climate action – a diplomatic “wrecking ball” saying that
abandoning fossil fuels is a fantasy. Its opposition has continued in the
run-up to the UN Cop30 climate summit in Brazil, yet the country is now also
making a whirlwind switch to renewable power at home.
In another contradiction, slowing climate action worsens the impacts on a
desert kingdom that is extremely vulnerable to global heating and where its 36
million people already contend with conditions “at the verge of livability”.
How can these contradictions be understood, and can countries desperate to
fight a climate crisis that is already killing a person a minute outflank Saudi
obstruction? “The Saudis are not crazy.” says Karim Elgendy, an expert on
climate and energy in the Middle East. “But they don’t want to be a failed
state.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
