Marruecos descarbonizará su economía de acuerdo con las comisiones climáticas africanas
Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and the impacts of global warming on populations and the environment are becoming increasingly obvious. The floods that affected a third of Pakistan in August and Europe's hottest and driest summer in 500 years, to name but two extremes, have once again highlighted the urgency of joint global action. However, meeting the premises and cooperating has become more difficult in a context marked by the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and tensions between the United States and China, the world's two main CO2 emitters.
Since 2017, Morocco has implemented a national decarbonisation plan for its industries. The aim is to curb carbon dioxide emissions by using more renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro. 2017 was also the year that Maghreb Industries CEO Hakim Marrakchi moved his chewing gum factory from the centre of Casablanca to the airport industrial area and opted for a low-carbon strategy. Maghreb Industries has reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 20% and plans to further expand its solar power plant to provide industrial processes for chewing gum production.
In Sharm El Sheikh, as part of the Egyptian COP27 summit, the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and how emission reduction targets will be met were discussed. They also discussed the rules of the mechanism that allows countries to reach their targets by financing climate protection projects abroad. Last year, states pledged to improve their climate ambition and increase their "Nationally Determined Contributions" (NDCs) every year, instead of every five years as originally planned. However, only 23 of the nearly 200 countries have submitted updated reduction targets for 2030 before the UN deadline.
Princess Lalla Hasnaa of Morocco, Goodwill Ambassador of the Congo Basin Climate Council and the Congo Blue Basin Foundation in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, emphasised the Moroccan kingdom's strong commitment to support the activities of the three African Climate Councils. "As a founding partner and, above all, as a strong champion of Africa in the region, the Kingdom of Morocco is determined to contribute to the achievement of the objectives set at the first Brazzaville Summit and the concrete actions recommended thereafter," she said.
In this regard, the Princess stressed Morocco's firm commitment to support the merger of the two other African climate committees at the highest level. In this regard, Lalla Hasnaa recalled that the Congo Basin region is the second largest carbon sink in the world and stressed that its "conservation is a major global challenge and it is the responsibility of all actors to protect it".
The Moroccan authorities commissioned Assia Benhida, Partner & Market Leader Maghreb at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), to support their decarbonisation and energy transition strategy and worked with the consultancy firm PwC to prepare a list of priority sectors. "One of the priority sectors is everything related to the construction industry, cement and so on. There are also cottage industries that need to move from the 'grey' to the 'green' area, especially the leather industry because the agricultural business is an important source of employment."
As Assia Benhida points out, the challenge for Moroccan industry is both climate and competition. Indeed, from 2025, Europe will impose a carbon tax on insufficiently carbon-free imports, where Morocco does not intend to lose its producers to greener competitors. The aim is to formulate a new funding target for the period after 2025, where all countries in a position to do so should give their support.
