Saudi Arabia has pledged more than one billion dollars (861 million euros) for new climate initiatives.
"Today we are ushering in a green era for the region," said the Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman on Monday at an environmental summit with other heads of state and government in the Middle East.
The announcement was made a few days before the world climate conference COP26.
"We are convinced that these changes are not only important for the environment, but also for the economy and safety," said bin Salman.
A regional investment fund for technologies for a “circular economy for carbon” and a “global initiative to find solutions for clean fuels” are planned.
Overall, the two projects should have a volume of around 10.4 billion dollars.
Saudi Arabia will contribute 15 percent and thus around 1.5 billion dollars, said the Crown Prince.
The rest is to be financed by regional funds and other countries.
Climate neutral by 2060
On Saturday, the kingdom had already announced that it wanted to achieve climate neutrality by 2060.
Saudi Arabia is one of the brakes on global climate protection and one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world.
However, the state in the Middle East is under pressure because investors are threatening to turn away from the oil company Saudi Aramco, which is one of the desert state's most important sources of income, because of its high climate footprint.
From October 31st, the governments will be negotiating at the world climate conference COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, how they can actually meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
This provides for a limitation of global warming to well below two and if possible to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial age.