Global Challenges

Global climate change requires at short-term and urgently effective measures to reduce the emission of CO2 resp. greenhouse gases. The NetZero target for 2050 sets out the ambitious path for continuing and intensifying these measures.

The replacement of fossil fuels with the consistent use of renewable energies for power generation and the transition to alternative fuels such as green hydrogen and biofuels – especially among consumers in industry and transport – is a key contribution to the targeted reduction in emissions. This will require the provision of green fuels on a large scale timely and reliably.

However, it is foreseeable already today, that the reduction of emissions alone will not be sufficient for NetZero 2050. Strategies must be developed and implemented in parallel to enable carbon removal, i.e. large-scale capture and safe storage of atmospheric CO2.
Climate change mitigation measures must be consistent with responses to the challenges of global population growth and international wealth disparities, which will also intensify in this century.

Vision

SAREP serves as a vision for a green development pathway for the adjacent states of the Sahara. The narrative for this vision builds upon the fact that there have been multiple phases during the history of the Sahara, in which shifting climatic conditions have led to the replacement of the desert with tropical savannahs rich in water, flora and fauna. Living in a phase of changing climatic conditions that even favor the expansion of deserts serves as inducement to create a sustainable system to reverse this trend. Through the use of modern technology and know-how, a “renaissance” of the Sahara is to be achieved.

Once the initial project stage in Mauritania has proven its feasibility, the project should be scaled up to create one continuous green belt from Africa´s Atlantic coast in the west to the red sea in the east, running through Mauritania, Mali, Algeria, Niger, Chad and Sudan.

“ I am amazed by the scale in which you think and work. It always bothered me when I read reports raving about capturing, say, 900 tons of CO2 per week. Other articles reported that they were able to absorb and store the CO2 from 12,000 cars. That’s just nothing. You have to think in terms of the dimensions that you are realizing in your project.”
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Gerhard GottschalkMicrobiologist and former President of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities
and the All European Academies (ALLEA)

Objectives

Green Business Opportunities:

Mobilizing Private Investments
Offering a Competitive Product Portfolio

Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation:

Initiating Large-Scale Carbon Sequestration
Industry-Scale Biomass Production
Industry Scale Hydrogen for Local Use and Export

Regional Development:

Enhancing Food, Water, Energy Security
Creating Jobs and Perspectives
Migration Mitigation

Biomass products for industry:

Biofuel, Pellets, Timber, Protein, Biochar, Cash Crops

DOWNLOADS

The first project brochure providing a concise overview about the project concept is available for download here and the pitch slide deck with more detailed information about the project’s test plot is available for download here.

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