The need to scale climate finance provision for a just transition: Morocco’s perspective
Morocco has long been considered a leader in climate action, ranked among the highest for its ambition. Its recent efforts reflect its longstanding commitment to fighting climate change. Its nationally determined contribution, updated in 2021, outlines a clear roadmap for national efforts on climate change, in mitigation and adaptation, with finance at its heart.
Morocco’s NDC emphasises a commitment to renewable energy and decarbonisation. It aims to achieve 52% of electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030. This is an enhancement of past ambitions. Under the farsighted vision of King Mohamed VI, investment in renewable energy, especially solar and wind, has not only reduced Morocco’s dependence on fossil fuels from foreign sources, but has also created new economic opportunities and improved energy access for rural communities. Morocco’s pioneering efforts on renewable energy have been an inspiration to other countries for over 15 years.
Morocco’s NDC also stresses the imperative of adaptation and improved resilience to growing climate change impacts. Morocco, liable to drought, desertification and flooding, is considered a particularly vulnerable country under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and has suffered extreme weather impacts. The NDC outlines a range of adaptation plans, notably regarding agriculture and water resources, and also in fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, the health sector, housing, and the most vulnerable environments and ecosystems: oases, coastlines and mountains. The NDC notes that, without adaptation, vulnerabilities will hinder Morocco’s achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
NDC conditions on scaling finance
Finance is a core requirement of any national effort to implement mitigation and adaptation measures – and indeed, finance is a core part of Morocco’s NDC.
Morocco’s NDC unconditionally commits to reduce emissions by 18.3% by 2030 relative to a business-as-usual scenario, based on 34 unconditional national measures. It also commits to reduce as much as 45.5% by 2030 depending on international climate finance for a further 27 conditional measures.
The NDC estimates that $38.8 billion will be required to fully achieve its mitigation targets. Of this, $21.5 billion is required as international climate finance for the conditional aims.
National efforts on finance
Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, Morocco has worked to strengthen its domestic frameworks for climate finance, in addition to efforts at international levels. A notable milestone was Morocco’s adoption in 2016 of its Roadmap for Aligning the Financial Sector with Sustainable Development Challenges.
In the absence of international support, Morocco is spending considerable sums of domestic public money on loss and damage from climate change. Recently, in response to the worst drought in decades, Morocco spent approximately $1 billion in public funds, which might otherwise have been deployed for mitigation, adaptation or other ends.
Morocco’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, is under taking efforts to ensure that budget and fiscal measures integrate climate considerations.
Morocco aims to take the burden off state-led financing by increasing private finance where possible in climate-related areas with investment potential, such as an energy transition, through expanded partnership with the private sector. This approach is reflected in Morocco’s 2021 New Model for Development.
Indeed, Morocco recently launched the new national Strategy for the Development of Climate Finance to catalyse private investments, with strategic axes including, but not limited to, market transparency, awareness raising, investment-oriented solutions for risk sharing, climate-related financial risk management, capacity building, disclosures, public policy and regulation.
Towards an increase in international finance
At the international level, Morocco has benefited from the Green Climate Fund as well as other funds and bilateral financing. This has enabled it to pursue high-impact initiatives in renewable energy and resilience building, such as the Noor Solar Complex and adaptation projects in rural areas.
However, with $21.5 billion required to meet the conditional commitments, Morocco’s NDC highlights the importance of international cooperation in addressing the global climate crisis. Morocco thus continues to advocate for increasing international climate finance from developed countries to developing countries.
Since the Glasgow meeting of the 26th Conference of the Parties, Morocco has consistently and actively engaged in the process to develop the new collective quantified goal on climate finance, to ensure that the new goal responds to the needs and priorities of Morocco and other developing countries, particularly in providing concessional and grant-based public finance for the NDCs.
A turning point at COP29
Whatever the outcome of COP29, it will mark a turning point in the life of the Paris Agreement. Adopted at COP21 in 2015, the Paris Agreement saw a rapid entry into force on the eve of the COP22 meeting in Marrakech in 2016. This swift international action represented a diplomatic victory, reflecting the support for enhanced global action through NDCs.
However, it was understood that timely implementation of these NDCs would necessitate much greater international public finance support from developed countries to developing countries. The reality across many developing countries, including Morocco, is that despite best efforts nationally to mobilise finance from the private sector and other sources, the new provision of international public finance remains required for NDC implementation. The decision on a new finance goal at Baku will therefore be a clear test of the world’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
