Saudi Arabia relies on “green tech” to green the desert

Saudi Arabia is banking on green innovations to green its desert soils, but between technological promises and accusations of greenwashing, the real challenge for its start-ups remains transforming pilot projects into sustainable solutions to the climate emergency. Riyadh welcomes since Monday COP16, the UN conference on desertification, presented by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, as a “decisive moment” in the fight against drought and the advance of deserts.

By combining cutting-edge technology, agriculture and water management, the world’s top crude exporter seeks to respond to the climate crisis while diversifying its economy to prepare for post-oil potential. According to auditing giant PwC’s “2023 Middle East Climate Tech” report, nearly 75% of Middle East investments in climate tech startups globally are Saudi. But “only a small fraction” of these investments is directed to the region, assures PwC.

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In the kingdom, in 2023, investments in start-ups were mainly absorbed by the energy sector ($363 million), followed by food, agriculture and land use ($39 million). dollars), says the auditing company. Among these projects is the wastewater treatment plant developed at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), which treats wastewater while producing its own energy. Under the direction of Professor Peiying Hong, this station uses “anaerobic microorganisms (which survive without oxygen) to transform organic carbon into methane”, collected in the form of biogas, she explains to AFP.

« Transform sand into soil »

The water filtered in these biological reactors can be used to “cultivate micro algae to feed livestock” or to “irrigate plants and trees to combat desertification,” she adds. As part of a “Middle East Green Initiative”, Saudi Arabia aims to plant ten billion trees to rehabilitate “74 million hectares of land (an area larger than France) and restore its greenery natural” according to the initiative’s website. To achieve these ambitions, effective management of water and soil resources is fundamental for the largely desert kingdom.

“We transform sand into soil,” says Professor Himanshu Mishra from an experimental farm. With his team at KAUST University, he has developed a product that he claims can transform desert land into fertile land by enriching it with optimized chicken manure, an abundant and underutilized resource in Saudi Arabia that buried “around 500,000 tonnes per year”. “Unlike fertilizers, which are nutrients for plants” his innovation “acts like a sponge to retain these nutrients and water, while promoting microbial biodiversity”, necessary for plants to develop, he explains to AFP from a strip of desert where lush vegetation now grows.

Greenwashing or opportunity?

But these innovations require significant funding for large-scale deployment. Ms Hong highlights the importance of “venture capital investments”. John Robinson, an investor for Mazarine Ventures, which specializes in investments linked to water management, admits that raising funds remains “extremely difficult” for this type of start-up, although some manage to attract private investors.

Saudi Arabia’s ecological ambitions coexist with its fierce defense of oil. Beyond the fight against desertification, the kingdom is banking on technologies including carbon capture and hydrogen production as part of what it calls a “circular carbon economy” allowing it to maintain and even increase increase its hydrocarbon production.

Critics view these efforts as greenwashing, saying they allow continued investment in fossil fuels while providing only limited environmental benefits. In May 2024, the NGO European Center for Democracy and Human Rights affirmed that “the Saudi Green Initiative aims to hide the country’s dependence on fossil fuels”.

Riyadh says this policy is necessary for its energy security. In the post-oil perspective, the kingdom, which has the necessary capital and resources, could become a regional heavyweight in green innovation. Because by selling its carbonaceous soil, “made in the kingdom, from local waste”, Saudi Arabia could become “an exporter both of the product but also of its technology”, Mr. Mishra wants to believe.