Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Environmental sustainability is fundamental to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. Speaking in the latest edition of the Asian Golf Industry Federation series of webinars, highlighting the work of AGIF member companies across the region, Ed Edwards, Chief Operating Officer of Golf Saudi, outlines how the world’s first environmentally governed golf eco-system has been created.

Edwards said: “I refer to Covid in many ways as being quite a good thing for us because it gave us the chance to stop sprinting for a second and have a look at what we’d achieved. We had some very clear pillars as to our objectives, our deliverables and we’ve had great success among some of the things we’ve discussed.

“But we felt we were lacking a common thread, a real why for the company … and it became pretty apparent that was sustainability.

“Sustainability not only fits in with the Vision 2030 and some of those key elements that the nation is trying to achieve, whether it’s employment or healthcare or improvement of people’s lives, but also allowed us to tie in all the projects that are under construction with a common theme – and sustainability isn’t just environmental.

“Our national sustainability strategy looks at three key pillars – the environment, social sustainability and finally economic. It’s great to have a stringent social plan and an environmental plan, but if you can’t make it make economic sense then the longevity will be at risk.

“So we really developed three different agendas, environmental, social and economic and that’s very closely tied to Vision 2030 and more latterly when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince announced that Saudi Arabia would be net zero by 2060.

“When we look at our sustainability strategy, it really shows how golf can be a key contributor to that vision and to what the country is trying to do. So, our sustainability strategy really became that guiding light and helped us focus on decision-making.

“Through our national sustainability strategy we have a green agenda that looks at how you develop the most economically sustainable golf courses and it looks at certain environmental eco-system services, like bio-diversity desertification and some key critical areas like water usage.

“Now that document has been created with our partners at GEO and STRI over many months and with all that intel that’s been done we’ve provided that free of charge to every golf project within Saudi Arabia that is developing a golf course because ultimately the net benefit for the nation far outweighs anything that we would do as a single entity within Golf Saudi for our own projects.

“I think the net gain will be seen in the long term because of those decisions that are made now through initiatives like our green agenda and that creation of a sustainable golf eco-system.

“We have the great opportunity in Saudi Arabia because we’re not trying to retro fit a lot of existing products and projects. We have virtually a blank piece of paper that if we all collectively drive in the same direction, the net gains are massive in the years to come.”

*To see the full interview with Ed Edwards, please click here.