Saudi Arabia, World’s Largest Oil Exporter, Names First-Ever Climate Envoy

Saudi Arabia has named its first-ever climate envoy. The new envoy has been named as Adel al-Jubeir, who previously served as foreign minister and Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington. The announcement, part of a series of royal decrees by Saudi King Salman, comes as Saudi officials have begun to increase the kingdom’s oil production while working to cut emissions. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said earlier this month that the country would increase its daily oil production by more than one million barrels and would exceed 13 million barrels by 2027. But last year the kingdom pledged ahead of the COP26 climate change summit that it would reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter; it has benefited from the worldwide rise in energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.