Arab News, Wed, Sep 27, 2023 | Rabi Al-Awwal 12, 1445
Saudi Arabia’s transport plans play crucial role in global carbon emissions battle
Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia’s sustainable transport plans
are a vital part of the Kingdom’s drive to reduce global carbon emissions by 4
percent, said a government official on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Global Sustainable Transport Forum
held in Beijing from Sept. 25-26, the Saudi Transport and Logistics Services
Minister, Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, stressed that sustainability is a
fundamental element of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
Al-Jasser underscored that the Kingdom’s strong
commitment to sustainability has been smoothly incorporated into the transport
and logistics sector through the National Strategy for Transport and
Logistics.
The strategy includes reducing carbon emissions
per person by 2 percent in a year, increasing sustainable mobility, electrifying
transport and implementing them across the logistics value chain.
It also includes developing the necessary
infrastructure to meet future demand, with the primary goal of minimizing
traffic fatalities.
According to Al-Ekhbariya, the minister also
pointed out that cooperation, innovation and the exchange of best practices
create the foundation for achieving common goals.
He also revealed that there has been significant
progress over the years, with the number of fatalities falling from 28 per
100,000 people in 2016 to 13.5 in 2020.
Through the implementation of a national safety
program that emphasizes infrastructure development, road safety awareness and
governance improvements, the goal is to lower the fatalities to less than five
by 2030.
Al-Jasser also emphasized how the COVID-19
pandemic hugely affected the global logistics and transportation industry,
causing supply chains to break down and some transport sectors to collapse.
This fact underlines how crucial it is to balance
the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable development to
create green transportation networks.
Furthermore, the minister said in August that
Saudi Arabia’s master plan to develop logistics centers in the Kingdom will help
improve transport services and contribute to infrastructure development.
He noted that the new master plan will also
strengthen Saudi Arabia’s connection with global markets, as the Kingdom is
strategically placed in the middle of three continents.
Saudi Arabia’s NSTL aims to position the Kingdom
as one of the top 10 countries globally in the logistics performance index by
the end of this decade, aligned with the goals outlined in Vision 2030.