Episode #16: Climate Leaders 101: Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and his Saudi Vision 2030 to address climate and economic concerns

MBS’s commitment to renewable energy has been seen by some as a way to secure long-term economic stability and reduce the Saudi reliance on oil revenue. In this episode of our 2023 Climate Leaders 101, we discuss climate leader Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MBS) with IE students, Alisa and Sofia. We begin by the basics, looking at the role of the royal family in Saudi politics and how this has affected MBS’s leadership style. This episode focuses on Saudi Arabia’s oil dependence and the extent to which this dependence both consolidates MBS’s power and funds his attempts at diversifying Saudi economic activity. We comment on the main policy MBS has launched to combat climate change, his Vision 2030, of which includes NEOM City. While the impacts are yet to be measured, Alisa and Sofia discuss whether Mohamed bin Salama Al Saud IS a climate leader given criticism of his ambitious projects and given ulterior economic motives.

The Climate Leaders 101 series is brought to you as a collaboration between RAIA and IE University’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs. Ten IE students have researched five climate leaders under RAIA supervision and with RAIA’s methodology ahead of the COP28. This is the second year we have conducted this research program fully financed by our partners from IE University. Check out the report on MBS written by Alisa Lazurenko and Sofia Platonova: (Insert Link). Check out Alisa Lazurenko’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisa-lazurenko/. Check out Sofia Platonova’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofiaplatonova/.