The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has embarked on a strategic initiative to address environmental and sustainability issues by signing two pivotal agreements with the World Economic Forum’s innovation platform, UpLink. These agreements were formalized during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 held in Davos, Switzerland.
His Excellency Faisal F. Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia, together with Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, inked the deals aimed at ‘Catalyzing Innovation for an Ocean Positive Economy’ and ‘Catalyzing Innovation for a Positive Circular Carbon Economy (CCE).’ Through these agreements, they aspire to establish innovation ecosystems that support emergent impact entrepreneurs, thereby encouraging investment and bolstering solutions that can tackle sustainable development challenges such as ocean degradation, biodiversity loss, and the circular carbon economy.
The initiative is led by the Ministry of Economy and Planning, in collaboration with several national entities, including the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, the Saudi Green Initiative, and the WAVE Initiative under FII.
Alibrahim expressed Saudi Arabia’s resolution to confront climate and sustainable development challenges by promoting environmental stewardship and transformative investments in innovative, scalable technologies. He emphasized the country’s commitment to fostering climate-positive solutions that contribute to sustainable, resilient resources and inclusive economic growth, aligning with national and international sustainable development goals.
John Dutton, Head of UpLink, underscored the critical need for swift, collective action to combat the climate crisis. He highlighted how UpLink, along with its global partners, is creating a nurturing ecosystem for early-stage entrepreneurs, supplying essential resources, publicity, expertise, and funding. This strengthened alliance between UpLink and Saudi Arabia is set to demonstrate the potent impact of innovation and partnership.
This latest agreement builds upon the already established partnership between MEP and UpLink in 2022. It furthers initiatives such as the ‘Food Ecosystems in Arid Climate Challenge’ and the ‘Smarter Climate Farmers Challenge,’ which were previously launched with MEWA. These challenges garnered over 430 submissions and resulted in 22 winners who were lauded for their innovative and effective solutions. The winners were granted funding, international visibility, and access to WEF and partner events.