Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
The Minister of Petroleum stated that His Royal Highness Prince Salman's speech at the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP26) agreed with Bahrain's vision of the need to strengthen international cooperation to address the impact of climate change.
Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa stated that the Crown Prince and Prime Minister pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2060 and a 30% reduction by 2035, which confirmed the Kingdom’s enthusiasm for fulfilling its environmental commitments. Bahrain aims to achieve this goal by decarbonizing, improving efficiency and doubling the deployment of renewable energy.
"This is a message to the world and confirms Bahrain's enthusiasm for fulfilling its environmental commitments at the international level," the minister said. Under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, the Ministry of Petroleum has implemented a wide range of environmental projects and initiatives in cooperation with local and international agencies.
The minister said that this includes the "Green Climate Fund" whose 21st board meeting was held in Bahrain, which is the first oil country to host such an event. The conference was held in 2018 and approved and approved funding for Bahrain's environmental projects, including the Green Climate Fund and "Enhancing the Climate Adaptability of Bahrain's Water Sector."
Sheikh Mohammed affirmed that the Kingdom is in a leading position in implementing many environmentally friendly projects. "The most important of these are unleaded gasoline production, kerosene Merox project, refinery gas desulfurization project, LPG processing project, lubricant base oil project, wastewater treatment plant project and carbon dioxide extraction project."
Other environmental protection projects include the establishment of a fish farm, a bird sanctuary, a Bahrain Arboretum, Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa’s aromatic botanical garden at GPIC, a Bahrain-Japan friendship garden, and the inauguration solar power plant of Tatweer Petroleum. And set up an incentive plan for Bahraini schools to innovate and achieve excellent results in the environmental field.
The Minister added: “All these projects and plans are designed to enable the Kingdom to achieve its net zero emissions target by 2060.” Bahrain also participated in the Middle East Green Initiative Summit held last month.
His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia opened the summit. The Minister said that the participation of His Royal Highness Prince Salman at the summit confirmed Bahrain’s key role in achieving environmental security.