Chapter 7. Energy and Industry

This chapter examines the potential impacts of climate change on Saudi Arabia’s energy sector under a 3-degree world, with a focus on domestic energy infrastructure and its related economic and productivity impacts. Given that studies assessing such aspects are lacking, potential impacts are explored using existing knowledge, focusing on the role of climate variability, expectations related to extreme weather events, and known vulnerabilities within the sector. The broader context of international policy, particularly those concerning energy exports and associated geopolitics, remains a complex backdrop. That dimension warrants its own comprehensive exploration to fully grasp the impacts of both climate change and international climate policy on the Kingdom’s economy and its role in the global energy ecosystem.

Mohamad Hejazi

Executive Director- Climate & Sustainability Mohamad Hejazi is the executive director for the Climate and Sustainability Program at KAPSARC. He also leads the Climate Change…

Mohamad Hejazi is the executive director for the Climate and Sustainability Program at KAPSARC. He also leads the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Partnership (CAMP) project, and his work focuses on climate change research, climate impacts and adaptation, climate mitigation, integrated assessment modeling, and energy-water-land nexus. Prior to joining KAPSARC, Mohamad worked as a senior research scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he served as the principal investigator for the Global Change Intersectoral Modeling System project, a multi-million-dollar project that includes over 40 interdisciplinary researchers across many institutions. He has also led and contributed to projects with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, US-AID, US-EPA, USGS, NASA, and NSF-INFEWS. Mohamad has authored over 100 journal publications, and he has also served as a contributing author to the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment, and the AR6 IPCC WG III report on the mitigation of climate change. Mohamad holds a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Expertise