Saudi Arabia A "Wrecking Ball" On Climate Action; Their Climate Worst-Case - Heatwaves At/Above 133F For Weeks On End
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An early and pivotal victory for Saudi Arabia and its oil-rich OPEC allies was blocking the use of voting to take decisions in UN climate negotiations – voting is common in other UN bodies. Instead, consensus is needed for approval. “This impasse has never been overcome. It gives outsized influence to laggards, which suits Saudi Arabia very well,” a report by the Climate Social Science Network found, with the impasse since “crippling” the talks. Armed with an effective veto, Saudi Arabia has held back climate negotiations ever since by becoming master of the arcane and complicated procedural rules that govern the process, “seeking to ensure it achieves as little as possible, as slowly as possible”, the report said.
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In recent years, Saudi climate obstruction has expanded from the climate talks to many international environmental meetings. A plan to cap the production of plastic, supported by more than 100 nations, collapsed in August after opposition by Saudi Arabia and allies, which had also blocked voting in those negotiations. A landmark deal for a carbon tax on shipping was stymied in October after Saudi Arabia – backing voting on this occasion – called a successful vote for a postponement, amid bullying by the US. Even at a UN desertification summit hosted by Saudi Arabia itself in 2024, nations failed to agree on a response to drought because the hosts refused to allow any mention of climate in the agreement. This full-spectrum assault on climate action was memorably described by Meyer as a “wrecking ball” last year. “They definitely are still in that mode,” he says.
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But the country is already feeling the heat. The average temperature rose by 2.2C between 1979 and 2019, almost three times faster than the global rate, and even faster in Riyadh and Mecca, as the dry land of the Arabian peninsula was superheated by the climate crisis. The sun-scorched summers are worse – the temperature rose by 2.6C over those four decades. Saudi Arabia’s most important event – the hajj – has already been hit by extreme heat, with at least 1,300 Muslim pilgrims dying in a heatwave in 2024. The future could be much worse: the worst-case scenario for Saudi Arabia is apocalyptic: “ultra-extreme heatwaves” with temperatures up to 56C or higher and lasting several weeks, with summers an average 9C hotter.
Even if carbon emissions are sharply cut and global temperature rise is limited to 2C, Saudi Arabia could have a 13-fold increase in heat-related death rates. This rises to a 63-fold increase in the worst-case scenario. Coastal cities such as Jeddah and Dammam face the additional risk of humid heat, which is even deadlier than dry heat, as it hinders cooling of the body through sweating. Drought is one of the biggest concerns, but too much water in the form of flash floods is already an increasing and deadly reality in Saudi Arabia, where more than 80% of people live in cities. “All major cities are vulnerable to flash floods,” said the Kaust-Kapsarc report. “Riyadh has witnessed more than 10 flood events in the past 30 years, which have claimed over 160 human lives and caused substantial socioeconomic losses.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/15/170000-a-minute-why-saudi-arabia-is-the-biggest-blocker-of-climate-action