Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion Neom megaproject could significantly alter local weather patterns and disrupt the regional climate, a leading climatologist involved in the project has warned.
Donald Wuebbles, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois and lead author for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said the issue has recently been escalated to a ‘higher priority’ by Neom’s leadership. His warning follows the abrupt departure of former CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr and growing concerns over the environmental impact of the development’s most ambitious features.
The climate warning comes at a time when Neom is already under mounting pressure. Falling oil prices, reduced foreign investment, and instability in the Red Sea region have all contributed to uncertainty around the megaproject’s future. According to the Financial Times (FT), Neom is now expected to face delays and potential scaling down following an internal review led by Aiman al-Mudaifer, appointed acting CEO by the Board of Directors in late 2024 to guide Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship initiative through its next phase.
In a 2020 promotional video, Reda Alzeri, a senior project manager involved in district energy planning, is filmed assuring viewers that ‘during implementation or construction, we have to make sure that we are not going to affect the environment, we have to take care of it’.
Wuebbles has now questioned whether that promise is still realistic. Speaking to FT, he said he had repeatedly warned that Neom’s multiple developments, namely The Line, the ski fields and the man-made islands could significantly affect the local environment.
‘You start to affect local weather and climate conditions,’ said Wuebbles, and the potential effects, including changes to rainfall, increased winds and more intense desert storms, are all factors ‘which have not been sufficiently studied’ and must be addressed before going further.
The gigaproject is being built in the arid region of Tabuk, in the northwest of Saudi Arabia, and stretches along the Red Sea, near the borders with Jordan and Egypt. Its centrepiece, The Line, is planned as a 170 km stretch of mirrored skyscrapers rising up to 500 metres high and designed to be self-sufficient.
Wuebbles’ concerns are supported by recent academic research. A 2023 Princeton study found that summer storms tend to intensify over urban areas, suggesting that the impact of massive developments like Neom could indeed influence weather conditions.
He also raised other concerns about the project’s carbon footprint, including its reliance on cement, a major source of carbon emissions, and the slow transition away from combustion-powered vehicles and construction equipment.
Another member of the advisory team, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed Wuebbles’ concerns and added they were shared by others within the group. The conclusions of the study commissioned by Neom’s new CEO to examine these issues have not yet been communicated to Wuebbles.
In addition to the CEO’s departure, some members of Neom’s advisory committee, known as the Environmental Steering Committee, have either left the project or declined to comment on the matter.
The NEOM project is staggering in scale:
— Adam Oxsen (@AdamOxsen) May 7, 2025
$500 billion to transform 26,500 km² of Saudi desert into a self-sustaining, carbon-neutral hub.
It's designed to be 100% renewable, running on green hydrogen.
The irony? The world's largest oil company bankrolls it: pic.twitter.com/I2oIeppfNI
Launched in 2017, Neom was envisioned as a city powered entirely by renewable energy and supported by advanced robotics, as part of the Kingdom’s broader efforts to diversify away from its oil-dependent economy. In light of recent developments, the target completion date of 2030 now appears increasingly unlikely.
Neom maintains it is a responsible development company, with sustainability as its primary concern, and says that its aim was and remains to ‘reduce the environmental impact of its projects compared to traditional construction projects’, including through more sustainable use of materials.
Despite the setbacks, Wuebbles remains cautiously optimistic. ‘They’re trying to do something like a moonshot,’ he told FT. ‘Nothing like this has been done before, and there’s so much that could be learned.’
