Riyadh - Mubasher: The National Energy Efficiency Services Company (Tarsheed), through one of its subsidiaries, and Jeddah Airports Company, the operator of King Abdulaziz International Airport, signed a cooperation agreement to work on providing solutions for energy sustainability and efficiency in the airport’s buildings and facilities, in the presence of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Minister of Energy and Chairman of the Company.

King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah is one of the top 100 airports in the world, and ranked third as the best airport in the Middle East according to the Skytrax classification, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The agreement aims to implement opportunities to raise energy efficiency and launch innovative initiatives to reduce energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions and enhance sustainability. This joint cooperation between the two parties comes to support the Saudi Civil Aviation Environmental Sustainability Program and contribute to achieving the goals of the Saudi Green Initiative and the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in raising energy efficiency and finding more sustainable solutions in all public and private buildings and facilities in the Kingdom .

Under this agreement, Tarsheed will conduct field surveys and technical studies of the targeted buildings and facilities at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, and study and propose the best solutions to save energy, reduce its consumption, and raise energy efficiency in the buildings and facilities within the scope of the project .

“We are all working hard to achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to raise energy efficiency and enhance sustainability in the Kingdom. Tarsheed continues to strengthen its partnerships with the public and private sectors, and our cooperation with Jeddah Airports Company is an important step towards setting new standards for energy efficiency in the aviation sector, reflecting a future that combines operational efficiency and environmental responsibility,” said Waleed bin Abdullah Al-Ghurairi, Board Member and CEO of the National Energy Efficiency Services Company (Tarsheed) .

For his part, CEO of Jeddah Airports Company, Mazen bin Mohammed Johar, said that the agreement represents an important step in supporting the efforts of Jeddah Airports to enhance the efficiency of operational processes in airport facilities, in implementation of the national strategy for the aviation sector, to apply the highest international standards for operating a sustainable, highly efficient airport in terms of energy consumption, in line with the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

He explained that King Abdulaziz International Airport has achieved remarkable progress in preserving the environment by adopting multiple sustainability projects, including the recycling project that contributes to reducing carbon emissions and achieving zero neutrality, and the project to rationalize electricity and water consumption using solar panels and smart technologies, which contributes to reducing energy consumption. Air quality monitoring indicators have also been implemented in cooperation with the National Center for Environmental Compliance Control, in addition to working to increase green spaces to reduce carbon emissions at the airport .

It is worth noting that Tarsheed Company works on rehabilitating buildings and facilities to raise energy efficiency and enhance its sustainability in the public and private sectors. The King Abdulaziz International Airport project in Jeddah represents one of its most important ongoing works with the private sector, through which it aims to encourage the aviation sector to adopt this approach that enhances the sustainability of the environment and resources .

In line with its mission, Tarsheed seeks to serve the Kingdom’s strategic sustainability goal, which stems from Vision 2030 and aims to achieve energy savings and reduce carbon emissions, as it works to rehabilitate energy efficiency in government and private buildings and facilities.

Since its establishment in 2017 until the end of the third quarter of this year 2024, it has targeted a reduction of 7.3 terawatt hours annually in the various projects it has undertaken, which is equivalent to saving more than 11.7 million barrels of oil equivalent, and avoiding nearly 4.2 million metric tons of harmful emissions, which is equivalent to the environmental impact of planting more than 69.4 million seedlings annually .