A climate scientist working as an adviser on Saudi Arabia's Neom project has warned that the new city could change local environments and weather systems, including the path of wind and sand storms.
The $500+ billion megacity - which organizers claim will be 33 times the size of New York City - is planned to include a 170km straight-line city, an eight-sided city that floats on water, and a ski resort with a folded vertical village, amongst other grandiose projects.
Donald Wuebbles, a researcher atmospheric physics and chemistry who advises Neom, told the Financial Times that he frequently raised concerns about how the project could impact the climate.
"Part of my concern was, what impact is The Line and those [projects] going to have on the local environment... you start affecting the local weather and climate," said Wuebbles.
He added that the potential damage could include things that have "not been studied enough", including changes to rain patterns and the amplification of wind and storms in desert areas.
The megacity is being built in the Tabuk province of northwestern Saudi Arabia, much of which has a dry, desert climate. The Line is touted to include two mirrored buildings that are nearly 500 meters tall running along a portion of the straight-line city, according to designs uncovered in 2022.
Wuebbles said that other questions he raised included emissions from the use of cement and a slow transition away from combustion engine construction vehicles and machinery.
Neom budget cuts
Wuebbles, who is at the University of Illinois, said academics were commissioned by Neom to study his concerns, but that the findings were not shared with him.
He said the sustainability advisory committee, which he sits on, was told during a recent meeting that the climate concerns were escalated to a "higher priority" since the abrupt departure of Nadhmi al-Nasr, the former chief of Neom.
A second member of the advisory team, who wished to remain anonymous, affirmed to the FT the issues raised by Wuebbles. Neom said that it was a responsible development company and sustainability was one of its core priorities.
Last week, the CEO of Neom launched a “comprehensive review” of the project, in what appeared to be belt-tightening partly due to falling energy prices.
Every building needs a roof – and ours spans 2.3Km. Trojena’s Ski Village takes design to extraordinary heights. The world’s largest skiable rooftop is a marvel of engineering and breathtaking architecture to provide a glimpse into the future of adventure. pic.twitter.com/VrJG94scoA
— TROJENA (@NEOMTROJENA) May 1, 2025
One person familiar with the review told the FT that the scope of several projects surrounding Neom was being reviewed due to "an environment of limited resources". As part of the review, the sustainability advisory committee's future is being reconsidered, according to Wuebbles. "The whole operation has been slowed down by six to 12 months," he said.
The Saudi government has been accused of forcibly displacing members of the Howeitat tribe, who have lived for centuries in Tabuk province, to make way for the $500bn city. At least 47 members of the tribe were arrested or detained for resisting eviction.
In April 2020, activist Abdul-Rahim al-Howeiti was shot dead by security forces shortly after making videos protesting against his eviction to make way for the megacity.
Last year, Middle East Eye reported that Saudi security officers were ordered to use lethal force to kill people who resisted eviction from areas earmarked for the city, according to a former Saudi intelligence officer. Senior executives leading the project have also been accused of racism, misogyny and corruption.
