BP CEO: Saudi oil companies need to invest $50 billion to fight climate change

BP CEO Ben van Beurden said Saudi oil firms need to spend $50bn on clean energy and to invest in renewable energy.

Van Beurden made the comments in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

“We can make a lot of progress,” Van Beurden told the television channel.

“We’re investing more and more.

We’re not just investing in renewable sources of energy.

We need to have a much bigger investment.”

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest oil producers and is expected to surpass US output in 2020, when its output will hit 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd).

The kingdom has said it wants to cut the country’s reliance on oil and gas by as much as 40 percent by 2020.

The kingdom also said it would start a pilot program to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2030, a move that has caused major international criticism.

Saudi Arabia is a member of the World Trade Organization.