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Over 110 co-signed IFSC athletes and professional climbers, alongside Acts for our Summits, an organization focused on sustainability, have released a letter to the IFSC citing disappointment in the organization’s November participation in the NEOM Beach Games, a promotional event hosted in NEOM. An estimated $500 billion project, NEOM is a futuristic megacity under construction in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The project has faced international criticism for human rights violations and ecological concerns.
The letter states: “Greenwashing, massive lobbying, expropriations… According to Amnesty International and ALQST (independent Saudian human right NGO), NEOM is an ecological disaster and a violation of human rights. The climbing community cannot accept that its federation is promoting a project of the sort from the Saudi dictatorial regime.”
The letter goes on to urge the IFSC to create an environmental ethics committee, to discontinue partnerships with companies which have significant negative ecological and human impact, and to provide educational training to all IFSC board members and stakeholders regarding ecological and climate crises.
Planning for NEOM was unveiled in 2017 by Suadi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman. The project was sold as a “blueprint for tomorrow in which humanity progresses without compromise to the health of the planet.” The megacity will purportedly include inter-connected smart towns which will be powered by 100-percent renewable energy, making it a zero-emission, carbon-positive ecosystem. NEOM will be car-free, structured so that everything may be accessed via walking or rail line. Part of the city will float on the Red sea. Part will consist of a narrow 500-meter tall complex stretching across 170 kilometers (106 miles). Mockups show a network of ski trails floating above the desert, and panels of plants and walkways intertwined between vertical cubicles. If your mind is going to The Jetsons, you have the right idea. There will reportedly be cloud-seeding machines to create artificial rain, and a signed partnership with Acwa Power and Air Products will yield the world’s largest green hydrogen and green ammonia plant.
Experts aren’t so sure just how realistic these plans are. If you contextualize it with the Saudi’s history of overpromising on environmentally-conscientious goals (the country has pledged that 50% of national electricity would be produced by renewable energy by 2030, and so far they’ve only achieved about 1%, at best) then you may see why some are calling it greenwashing. Regardless of NEOM’s deliverability, the project’s footprint, covering some 2600 square miles, will impact a variety of plant and animal species, some of which are endangered.
More concerning, the project has led to the forced removal of the Huwaitat tribe, who have lived in the area for generations. An estimated 20,000 tribesmen could be displaced if the project is completed. One activist was unwilling to vacate; he began posting videos online only to be shot days later. Other members of the Howeitat tribe were sentenced to death or prison.
Signers of the letter to the IFSC have surged from over 110 to 1,790. The IFSC has yet to publicly address the issue.