Arab funds pledge $10bn to fight desertification

• 10 development funds unite
• Combatting land degradation
• Announced at Riyadh event

The Arab Coordination Group, an alliance of 10 development funds, is to provide $10 billion by 2030 to combat land degradation, desertification and drought, it was announced on the second day of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification event in Riyadh. 

The commitment brings the total pledged to these interrelated causes at the two-week UN summit to more than $12 billion. 

The Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, launched on the first day of the event, received pledges of $1 billion each from the Opec Fund and Islamic Development Bank. 

Saudi Arabia provided $150 million to kickstart the initiative, which is aimed at helping 80 vulnerable countries enhance their resilience to drought.

Muhammad Al Jasser, chairman of the Islamic Development Bank, speaking on behalf of the Arab Coordination Group, said: “These funds will target global land restoration, desertification prevention and nature-positive development projects aligned with the objectives of the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership.”

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) latest report says at least $2.6 trillion in investment is needed by 2030 to restore over one billion hectares of degraded land and build resilience to drought. 

• Saudi Arabia goes on the offensive on climate change
• Grass skirts, keffiyehs and the polis – Baku’s Cop29 has it all
• Arab nations and China to launch drought research centre 

The report, Investing in Land’s Future: Financial needs assessment for UNCCD, said a daily investment of $1 billion is required between now and 2030 to meet the world’s land restoration targets. 

The report also detailed the lack of investment in land restoration and drought resilience from the private sector, which is estimated to contribute just 6 percent of global funding. UNCCD has forecast that restoring more than 1 billion hectares of land could generate up to $1.8 trillion annually.

The event in Riyadh is the first time the UN’s Convention to Combat Desertification Congress of the Parties (Cop) is being held in the Middle East. The UNCCD conference, which is also known as Cop16, aims to develop strategies for soil protection and restoration. 

Cop29, which attracted more attention, focused on climate talks and solutions. 

Aramco carbon collaboration

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco has signed a collaboration agreement with Carbon Clean and Samsung E&A to demonstrate a new carbon capture technology. 

The tech, called CycloneCC, is designed to capture CO2 from natural gas turbine exhaust streams containing approximately 4 percent CO2.

If successful, the CycloneCC is estimated to reduce the total installed cost of carbon capture systems by up to 50 percent compared to conventional systems. 

Aniruddha Sharma, CEO of Carbon Clean, said the new plant is an important milestone “in scaling up and commercialising CycloneCC”.

“Its compact, modular design should be easily integrated with gas turbines, delivering high-performance carbon capture in an industrial setting where space is typically limited,” he said. 

Samsung E&A will build the unit, which has a 50 percent smaller footprint compared to conventional carbon capture processors.