Decarbonization: A decisive shift

MOROCCO wants to nego­tiate the decarbonization shift. The new requirements that will be applied from next year to exports to the European market, as well as environmental constraints, require companies to adapt themselves to this dynamic, despite fears that a low-car­bon economy is synonymous with “decrease”.

According to several speakers during the meeting organized by the CGEM, in partnership with the Morocco-France Business Leaders Club, Morocco can set itself up as a low-carbon production platform at the regional level, especially with the large deposits of renewable resources, and especially since access to the European market will soon be conditioned by a low-carbon production model

This is what emerges from the meeting organized last Tuesday, in partnership with the Morocco-France Business Leaders Club. This approach is also “essential in the face of the soa­ring prices of energy products”, indica­ted the president of the CGEM.

• Driver of change: For the president of the CGEM, “by decarbonizing, we are winners in more ways than one”. This momentum could constitute, ac­cording to him, a boon for Moroccan companies. Especially since the current transformations will accelerate green relocalizations, hence the importance of positioning Morocco as an attrac­tive destination in this area. Chakib Alj could not have been clearer: “We must not wait. We must be the driver of this change”, he said. Some projects have been launched in this direction, as recalled by Leila Benali, Minister for Energy Transition, who empha­sized the low-carbon strategy for 2050. “The breakdown of this strategy into sectoral plans is under way. We are currently in the modeling phase”, said the minister. For her, “decarbonization is a priority subject for the reform of the energy sector, of great topicality in view of the soaring prices of raw mate­rials and in view of the impact of direct and indirect inflation on the national economy” The Minister for Energy Transition pleaded for the acceleration of the reforms undertaken by Morocco in terms of decarbonization, with the effective involvement of the private sector. According to the Minister, this would “improve transparency concer­ning the costs of service transactions and on investment opportunities”.

• Green growth: For his part, Ryad Mezzour, Minister of Industry and Trade, highlighted the projects launched in terms of industrial decarbonization. This is particularly the case for the pro­ject targeting industrial SMEs, via the “Tatwir green growth” support pro­gramme . For the Minister, the success of the Moroccan model in the field of carbon-free industry depends on the strengthening of energy independence, “the achievement of which depends on the development of new sectors and eco­systems, in particular wind and solar in­dustries, green hydrogen, and the like”. In this sense, Benali considered that one of the priority projects concerns the ove­rall reform of the energy sector.

M.A.M.