From Diesel To Solar: A Swiss Project For The Streets Of Dakar

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) A Swiss-funded carbon offset project in Senegal wants to make Dakar's iconic city buses quieter and cleaner. After six years and various delays, the first solar-electric vehicle has just completed a test drive. This content was published on October 2, 2026 - 09:00 2 minutes

I am an experienced video journalist passionate about making complex topics accessible and engaging through compelling multimedia storytelling. Focused on social and environmental issues, I produce various video formats on a wide range of topics, specialising in impactful explainer videos with motion graphics and stop-motion animation. During my studies in cinema, English literature and journalism, I've gained experience in radio, television, and print across Switzerland. After working with the Locarno Film Festival's image & sound team, I joined SWI swissinfo in 2018 to produce local and international reportages.

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Dakar's Car Rapides are hard to miss. The brightly painted, diesel-belching minibuses have rattled through the Senegalese capital's streets for decades, carrying millions of passengers and pumping out fumes in equal measure.

The EcoCar Solaire project, conceived by entrepreneur Mandu Dos Santos Pinto, wants to replace the minibus's diesel engine with swappable batteries charged by solar panels. The goal is ambitious: retrofit 1,680 vehicles – some 20% of the fleet – offsetting 300,000 tonnes of CO2 produced in Switzerland in the process.

The project sits within a broader bilateral climate agreement signed by Switzerland and Senegal in 2021, under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, which allows Switzerland to offset its domestic emissions by financing green projects abroad. Switzerland is a pioneer in seeking to offset domestic emissions with this approach.

For Dos Santos Pinto, gaining official recognition under the Swiss carbon offset agreement is crucial. Without it, he says, it would be almost impossible to secure the investment needed to finance the transformation and train Senegalese mechanics to convert the rest of the Car Rapide fleet.

>> Switzerland has been a poster child for carbon offsetting, but the success of its strategy is in question:

More More Emissions reduction Switzerland's bet on carbon offsets shows little payoff so far

This content was published on Oct 2, 2026 After the Paris Agreement, Switzerland set out to be a pioneer of international carbon offsetting. But so far it has delivered less than 1% of the emissions cuts it promised to buy abroad by 2030.

Read more: Switzerland's bet on carbon offsets shows little payoff s

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