Morocco has made a name for itself as a climate leader. Renewables make up almost two-fifths of its electricity capacity, some fossil fuel subsidies have been phased out and the country lays claim to some of the world’s largest clean energy projects. The country has received much praise for its actions to decarbonize. The country’s reputation may be well deserved, but it still faces real challenges – its geographical position in a warming hotspot makes it vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. And even as it seeks to end its dependence on fossil fuels, its energy demands are rising fast. Despite these challenges, Morocco has a huge natural potential to produce solar, wind and hydropower, and has taken significant steps to realize it. Morocco’s national action on climate change dates to the mid-2000s, when the country made the decision to become a regional leader in clean energy and to push forward massive renewables projects. The country’s leaders bet on these major transformations to be economically competitive in the future, as well as to reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports and ensure security of energy supply.
In 2009, Morocco set out an ambitious energy plan which aimed for 42% of total installed power capacity to be renewable energy by 2020. The plan drove a strong expansion of both wind and solar over the following decade, with solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity increasing 16-fold (albeit from a low base) and wind six-fold by 2020. Morocco also built the Noor-Ouarzazate complex, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant, an enormous array of curved mirrors spread over 3,000 hectares (11.6 sq miles) which concentrate the Sun’s rays towards tubes of fluid, with the hot liquid then used to produce power. While Morocco’s emissions are small compared with many more developed nations, burning fossil fuels for energy and cement production are still a big source of emissions in the country. Morocco still imports most of its energy to meet its rising energy consumption, which increased at an average annual rate of 6.5% between 2002 and 2015. Much of that imported energy is generated from fossil fuels. Morocco relies particularly heavily on coal power, which it is expanding along with renewables, and around 40% of electricity in the country comes from coal. However, at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow this month, Morocco was among the 20 countries who made a new commitment to building no new coal power plants. Morocco itself is already beginning to feel the impacts of climate change. Mean annual temperatures in the country are expected to increase by between 1.1C and 3.5C by 2060, depending on global climate action. The North African kingdom is in a climate change hotspot – the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry projects that temperatures in the Middle East and North Africa will increase twice as fast as the global average.