Rachid Ennassiri is co-founder of the Imal Initiative for Climate and Development
Since COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Morocco has faced multi-dimensional challenges, including most notably, the worst drought damages in the last three decades. His Majesty King Mohammed VI led an immediate response by instantly mobilising 912 million $US in public resources to alleviate the negative impacts of the drought on people and small farmers.
This story should send a strong signal to the international community at COP27. A vulnerable lower middle-income developing country is already allocating its own resources at a significant scale to deal with loss and damage, coping with negative consequences of climate change on Moroccan society and its natural environment, resulting from global emissions largely, from other countries, which it has contributed virtually nothing to.
Moving beyond short-term interventions on loss and damage, Morocco has developed a sophisticated architecture for climate disaster risk management and disaster risk financing. The country has strengthened its resilience to climate-related disasters through the establishment of a dual catastrophe risk insurance regime that involves private insurers, as well as a public Solidarity Fund Against Catastrophic Events. While these innovative mechanisms provide a useful example for the global discussions on Loss and Damage happening at COP27, the scale of the protection offered by these mechanisms remains insufficient and necessitates further support.
In line with its prominent engagements over the last two decades, this year saw Morocco continue its international leadership, inter alia with its election to the presidency of UNEA-6 (following a majority vote reflecting broad support within the African group), as well as co-chairing the Glasgow Power and Building Breakthrough initiatives. These inclusive processes will play a key role in defining priority actions where international collaboration is urgently needed to accelerate the transition to clean energies and technologies during the current decade.
Also in the run-up to COP27, Morocco and the European Union signed the Green Pact, making Morocco the first country to conclude a partnership of this kind with the EU, building on shared climate ambitions and what has been considered for many decades as a wider strategic partnership. It was since backed by the announced €1.6 billion investment injected through the EU Global Gateway to produce green energy, speed up digital transition, and strengthening Morocco-EU economic integration.
Morocco’s new investment charter and crisis recovery financing instruments such the Mohamed VI Fund for Investment put Paris aligned investment ambitions into practice. These will attract the capital needed towards the implementation of the transformation axes of Morocco’s New Model for Development, including the imperative of sustainable and resilient sub-national regions, anchoring an inclusive development across different territories. His Majesty the King most recently called on the government, in partnership with private and financial actors, to translate their respective commitments into a National Pact for Investment, aiming to mobilise 46.2 billion $ and create 500,000 jobs, over the period 2022-2026.
Within these investments, resilient and low-carbon infrastructure will be an integral component to tackle the structural climate and development challenges that Morocco is currently facing. Decarbonising and electrifying the industrial sector remain at the heart of the government’s priorities, dedicating a specific programme to this, hand in hand with the ongoing efforts to improve the regulatory framework of renewables. Morocco sees green industry as a key driver of industrial competitiveness, a way of attracting domestic and international private investors.
Another example of Morocco’s commitment to the green economy is in transportation. At COP26, Morocco’s National Railways Office (ONCF) brought the Rabat call for action for African railways, representing the voice of the international rail community to reposition clean and green transport at the heart of development strategies and make rail the backbone of sustainable mobility. Following COP26, ONCF delivered on the ground, issuing the first green infrastructure bond in Morocco worth 95.4 million euros. Office National des Chemins de Fer (ONCF) is carrying out its green transformation gradually, having already switched 25% of its overall energy consumption to green energy, to reach 50% in 2023.
Looking ahead, as underscored by the recent CCDR report on Morocco by the World Bank, it is understood that a resilient and low-carbon path could contribute to positioning Morocco as a global climate champion, in addition to the domestic benefits. It is expected that resilient and low-carbon policies and investments could have positive spill overs to Morocco’s trading partners. On the decarbonization side, Morocco could become a regional exporter of low carbon manufactured goods as well as clean energy. Morocco is well-positioned to respond to current global demand for low-carbon critical products such as fossil-free fertilizers, and other industrial goods, such as electric vehicles. Morocco’s innovations in water management, and climate disaster risk solutions are also seen as good practices with great potential for replication regionally and globally.
Morocco’s climate leadership will call for the contributions of all actors across society—public entities, the private sector, and civil society, including think tanks. Creating space for exchange and coordination can foster essential dialogue among actors, helping to accelerate the deployment of climate action at local, national, and international levels.