Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Morocco has ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa region and second in Africa in the 2021 Green Future Index, which measures countries’ progress and commitment towards a low-carbon economy.
A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) compiled the annual index through secondary research and analysis, as well as interviews with experts on climate change, green energy, and environmental technologies.
This year’s list included 76 countries and featured Morocco in the 26th rank globally, the first in MENA, and the second in Africa — behind Kenya (23rd).
Morocco’s global rank puts the country in “the greening middle” category, which includes “the 20 countries that are making progress or commitment toward building a green future.”
“The greening middle” is the second-best category, ranking behind “the green leaders” and ahead of “climate laggards” and “climate abstainers.”
The 2021 Green Future Index considers Morocco as one of the countries “with ambitious climate policies albeit at a more nascent stage.” It compared Morocco’s efforts with those of countries such as South Korea (31st globally) and Israel (38th).
The index, published on MIT Technology Review Insights on Monday, January 25, presented Morocco as a role model in renewable energies.
Read also: King Mohammed VI Calls for Timely Transition to Renewable Energy
“Over a decade ago, the King of Morocco began a national debate about the future of energy, resulting in a fundamental policy redesign and a goal that renewables would produce 42% of the country’s power by 2020—a target that has now been raised to 52% by 2030,” the authors wrote.
Through an interview with Said Mouline, the CEO of the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency (AMEE), the researchers behind the index illustrated Morocco’s progress in renewable energies over the past decade.
“Fossil fuel subsidies have been eliminated and replaced with energy transition programs. For example, to replace gas-fueled farm irrigation with solar-powered pumps, nearly 40,000 pumps have been installed to date,” the text said.
The document also mentioned Morocco’s leading role in the continent, notably through the training of African experts in renewable energies and sustainable agriculture.
“AMEE created a capacity-building center in Marrakech to train Africans from other countries in areas like renewable electrification and sustainable pumping for agriculture,” the index said, quoting Mouline.
Read also: Morocco’s MASEN, IDB to Develop Renewable Energy Projects in Africa
Besides the global ranking, the 2021 Green Future Index featured several specialized rankings, based on more specific criteria.
Morocco appeared in the fifth rank globally in the “clean innovation pillar.” The specialized ranking takes into consideration countries’ efforts to promote the development of clean technologies. Only Singapore, Finland, Chile, and Luxembourg earned higher scores than Morocco in this subranking.
Globally, the 2021 Green Future Index ranked Iceland (1st), Denmark (2nd), Norway (3rd), France (4th), and Ireland (5th) as the best countries worldwide in terms of decarbonization.
The bottom of the ranking, meanwhile, features Algeria (72nd), Russia (73rd), Iran (74th), Paraguay (75th), and Qatar (76th).
