RIYADH, March 28, 2025 — Saudi Arabia celebrated its second annual Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) Day on Thursday, marking the national program launched in 2021 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prime Minister and Chairman of the SGI Higher Committee.
The event highlighted the Kingdom's growing environmental efforts and its dedication to collective sustainability action.
SGI Day, with the theme "Promoting a culture of environmental stewardship," concluded a month-long campaign that brought together citizens, public institutions, private sector, and nonprofit organizations to address environmental challenges.
Throughout March, communities across the Kingdom collaborated to promote shared responsibility for sustainable change.
This year’s SGI Day follows the success of the SGI Forum in December 2024, held alongside the UNCCD’s COP16 Conference in Riyadh. The forum served as a platform for global discussions on environmental issues, green transformation, and collaboration, with contributions from policymakers, business leaders, and experts.
Since its launch, SGI has initiated over 85 projects across all 13 regions of Saudi Arabia, supported by investments exceeding SR705 billion. These efforts aim to reduce emissions, enhance afforestation, restore land, and protect marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
Notable achievements include connecting 6.6 GW of renewable energy to the national grid in 2024, with 44.2 GW currently under development. The Liquid Fuel Displacement Program, which operates four efficient natural gas power plants with a combined capacity of 5.6 GW, supports the Kingdom’s 2030 energy mix targets.
In environmental restoration, over 115 million trees have been planted, and 118,000 hectares of degraded land have been rehabilitated—equivalent to more than 165,000 football fields. More than 7,500 endangered animals, including cheetahs, oryx, gazelles, ibex, and houbara, have been successfully rewilded through specialized breeding programs.
A notable achievement was the birth of four cheetah cubs in 2024, the first in Saudi Arabia in over forty years, through the National Cheetah Conservation Program and local community efforts. Additionally, the National Center for Vegetation Cover has planted over 37 million mangrove saplings along the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, supporting both ecological preservation and sustainable economic opportunities.
The Prince Mohammad bin Salman Royal Reserve Development Authority also launched a pioneering program to train Saudi women as park rangers, the first of its kind in the Middle East, empowering women to play vital roles in conservation and natural heritage protection.
These initiatives reflect SGI’s core principle: sustainability is a shared responsibility. Saudis across urban and rural communities are showing that grassroots efforts are essential in achieving both national and global environmental goals.