Petro Rabigh has launched an initiative to plant 10,000 mangrove saplings in line with the Saudi Green Initiative and the UN’s sustainable development goals. The first phase of the initiative targeted the plantation of 1,000 saplings along the Kharar Bay in Rabigh governorate, covering an area of more than 70,000 square meters. Company employees and their family members took part in planting the saplings.
Othman bin Ali Al-Ghamdi, Petro Rabigh’s president and CEO, said the mangrove trees plantation initiative is part of the company’s commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emissions in order to mitigate pollution and support the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The campaign aims to increase plant diversity, improve climate conditions, lower temperatures, and educate company personnel and their families as well as raise environmental awareness. He said that Petro Rabigh is collaborating with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and utilizing several scientific studies and researches to carry out this initiative.
“The company, as part of its keen interest in nature conservation, signed last March a 20-year term partnership and strategic cooperation agreement with Gulf Cryo, covering the extraction of 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually from the mono-ethylene glycol plant, located in the Petro Rabigh Industrial Complex, with the aim of contributing to a sustainable economy and the replacement of fossil fuel-burning plants. This agreement is aligned with the Kingdom’s carbon circular economy concept, the ambitious Vision 2030 program, the Saudi Green Initiative, and the UN’s sustainable development goals,” Al-Ghamdi said.
Mohammed Farsi, the company’s vice president of engineering and support, said planting mangrove trees has both a biological and cultural significance, and it contributes to achieving several objectives, including educating society about plant preservation and providing a healthy and natural environment. “The Kingdom is on its way to achieve a qualitative leap in environmental protection and landscaping, unmatched by any other country in the Middle East. As a result of such pioneering and ambitious initiatives, desertification will be reduced, biological diversity will be enhanced, and a cleaner, more sustainable future will improve human well-being and the quality of life,” he said.
Farsi said the Petro Rabigh initiative is part of the company’s social responsibility to expand the plant landscape in the coastal environment. “Mangrove trees are among the most important natural resources in the Kingdom, which we are seeking to intensify and multiply through plantation projects to achieve Saudi Green Initiative goals. Mangrove trees have many advantages, such as protecting the coasts from rising water levels, reducing the effects of climate change by storing substantial amounts of carbon in soil, providing wildlife with a habitat, absorbing toxins, storing carbon over the long term, and delaying the effects of climate change. We have launched this initiative to contribute to a greener future that helps in improving the quality of life and in protecting the generations to come,” he added.
