Morocco is speeding up its attempts to enhance renewable energy generation as part of its efforts to meet climate change and carbon neutrality targets by 2050, as well as attain sector sovereignty.
As part of its new agricultural strategy, the Kingdom aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and plant 500,000 palm trees annually.
Morocco’s geographical location and remarkable renewable energy resources, according to the Institute for Research in Solar Energy and New Energies, “qualify it to become a significant participant in the development of the green hydrogen industry at the regional level.”
In a report on its work program for 2022, the institution stated, “The new dynamism intends to develop an economic and industrial sector around green molecules, particularly hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol, in order to facilitate the energy transition.”
“It is apparent that Morocco, which has been identified as one of the six nations with the highest potential in the field of green economy at the world level,” the institution noted.
Mohamed Benabou, a Moroccan specialist on climate and sustainable development, said, “Morocco has executed a set of key initiatives in the field of green economy, connected to interaction with climatic changes.”
“We’re talking about renewable energy initiatives,” he said, citing the solar farm project (Noor) in the country’s south as well as model electric buses that run totally on renewable energy.
“Pioneering initiatives connected to producing power from landfills, in the city of Fez, and programs targeted at improving the level of recycling to over 30% by 2022,” the Moroccan expert said.
“Morocco is on a fast track to address climate change, and it is working to satisfy the demands of the green economy, including human resources for green professions,” Benabbou added.
Morocco announced the first set of green hydrogen initiatives in Africa in April, with the goal of boosting Morocco’s hydrogen industry via capacity building.
The Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies stated, “Innovative collaborative projects in several sectors have been identified, and actors have been coordinated in order to encourage innovation and prepare an appropriate framework for the emergence of a competitive hydrogen sector in Morocco.”
“The design of a big research platform GreenH2A, created by the institution and the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, will be unveiled in 2022,” according to the institute.
Morocco’s production of green hydrogen, according to the institute, will “improve economic growth, contribute to decarbonization of industries, and allow participation in financing transition and energy security, as well as diversifying its sources.”
In turn, Abdel Rahim Kasiri, coordinator of the Moroccan Coalition for Climate and Sustainable Development, feels that “efforts must be redoubled in response to global climatic changes, and we must proceed to the farthest extent.”
“We need to focus expenditures on public transit and sustainable mobility, like as electric bicycles, and encourage investment in hybrid and electric automobiles rather than gasoline-powered vehicles,” Kasiri added.
“There is no place for delay in the crucial changes that the future world is heading towards in the realm of transportation, and counting on the acceptance of hydrogen as a substitute to petroleum,” the Moroccan expert argues.
“Morocco devised strategic choices years ago,” Kasiri added, “which resulted in the approval of the national plan for sustainable development, which was the result of national deliberations.”
Morocco has been working to transition to a sustainable and low-carbon mode of production in recent years, seeing the green economy as a key pillar of recovery, and launching the National Strategy for Sustainable Development in 2017.
During the “Green Middle East Initiative” summit in Riyadh on October 25, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch said that his country “voluntarily initiated the adoption of an integrated, participatory, and integrated approach that reflects the stakes and objectives of the sustainable development strategy.”
