The prince, who was chairing a panel discussion on "Carbon footprints and credits, climate change and industrial development," said: "The Kingdom has worked out a comprehensive program of action in dealing with carbon footprints and climate change, and has also been addressing the manufacturers locally and internationally to meet with our specifications and there ought to be no compromise in the interest of protecting and preserving the environment."
Reviewing the growing demand for natural resources, AlSharif Khalid AlGhalib, senior executive vice president and head of corporate banking sector at the National Commercial Bank (NCB), said since 1980 the demand for planetary resources has exceeded supply. "If current trends continue, by 2030 we will need the capacity of two planets to meet natural resource needs and absorb the CO2 waste," he said. He emphasized that the world's population was 6 billion in 1999, which exceeded 7 billion in 2011, and so demand on natural resources is skyrocketing. It's 50 percent more than the earth can sustain.
On financing Green initiatives and sustainable development, he said world electricity consumption will reach 25.5 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2020. The power demand is rising 7-8 percent annually and 70 percent of energy consumption goes to air-conditioning. However, he said demand is forecasted to triple between now and 2030.
He said water demand is also rising more than 7 percent a year and demand for desalinated water is going up by 14.5 percent and will reach 5.7 million cubic meters per day by 2014.
However, AlGhalib cautioned that consumption in the Kingdom is almost double the per capita global average. He said 25 to 30 percent of the Kingdom's energy production is used domestically primarily for generating power and water.
He said there are challenges and opportunities for the Saudi financial sector for promoting low-carbon initiatives in an oil-based economy.
He said in 2010 and 2011, NCB and some Saudi banks completed major project finance mandates for SATORP, Maaden aluminum smelter, as well as rolling mill, refinery and mine projects. They include Riyadh IPP-11 and Qurayyah Independent Power Project (IPP).
AlGhalib emphasized that it is necessary for policy makers to promote greater efficiency in resource consumption and to protect the environment against pollution and waste. This will lead to Greening of the region's existing industries; creating good opportunities for entrepreneurs to invest in green business industries and environment goods and services.
Mustafa A. Al-Ukayli, director corporate environment, Maaden gave presentation of roles of regulators, industry, and research technology in pursuing cleaner production and sustainable best practice.
He called for stringent regulatory standards and limitations and better awareness and education on pollution dangers.
He said public participation in decision-making was also important.
Mannava Sivakumar, acting director at the World Meteorological Organization, said climate variability and the severe weather events that are responsible for natural disasters impact the socioeconomic development of many nations.
Increased frequencies and intensities of the extreme events carry serious implications for agro-based industries, tourism, construction, transportation and insurance.
Annual economic costs related to natural disasters estimated at about $50-$100 billion.
Developing country economies are concentrated in climate sensitive sectors like agriculture and tourism. Many of the communities are already dealing with climate variability and extreme events, but climate change will mean they have even less time for recovery. Their traditional coping mechanisms will be insufficient, Sivakumar said in his presentation about responding to the consequences of climate variability and the impacts of extreme events.
However, he called for enhanced meteorological networks to more efficiently monitor local climate, and provide near-real time climate data for applications in all-important sectors. He said emphasize preparedness planning and improved early warning systems to lessen societal vulnerability to weather and climate risks.
