A 170 km city ♻️

What happens when urban planning meets science fiction in the middle of the desert?

Welcome to Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion mega-project aiming to reinvent urban life with The Line—a 170-kilometer-long, 500-meter-high linear city with no cars, no streets, and supposedly zero emissions. A place powered by AI, renewable energy, and bold ambition.

But while the concept looks like it came straight out of a Denis Villeneuve film, climate scientists are raising serious alarms.

What happens when you build a mirrored wall across a desert?

And what if, instead of saving the planet, it accelerates its decline?

Climate risks, sandstorms and a desert dream🌱

Neom is marketed as a sustainable smart city powered by solar energy and green hydrogen. However, according to a 2025 investigation by the Financial Times, climate experts warn that The Line’s structure could drastically disrupt local weather patterns.

🔍 Key concerns include:

• The 170-km linear wall could redirect prevailing winds, intensifying sandstorms.

• Massive constructions like floating islands and a desert ski resort could create urban heat islands.

• Several climate experts were removed from Neom’s sustainability advisory board after expressing concerns about environmental risks.

🛑 And it’s not just science. The project is now behind schedule, facing budget constraints, and witnessing brain drain as key experts exit. International investors are growing cautious, especially as oil prices stay volatile and Neom’s financial dependency on fossil revenues becomes more visible.

Between vision and mirage

Neom represents both a symbol of futuristic ambition and a warning sign. For investors and sustainability advocates, it raises crucial questions:

💡 Takeaways for investors:

• Sustainable cities are a growing investment trend, but only when climate risk is front and center.

• Ambitious infrastructure without robust environmental planning is not innovation—it’s greenwashing at scale.

• Projects like Neom must prove they are resilient, not just futuristic, to be taken seriously by climate-focused capital.

🌱 In the age of climate crisis, big dreams must be matched with grounded, science-backed execution. Otherwise, we risk turning tomorrow’s utopias into today’s costly mirages.

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