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Rabat – The Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Inger Andersen, has described Morocco as exemplary in terms of renewable energies.
The UN official made the remarks recently at a joint press conference with the UN Secretary-General to present the UN’s latest report on the environment.
Andersen said: “I should cite Morocco as an example of the countries which invested ten years ago in renewable energies.”
Andersen said countries like Morocco are major producers of renewable energies from the dual thermal wind and solar power.
Morocco’s Minister of Energy Aziz Rabbah echoed Anderson’s assessment, noting that the country has considerably invested in developing its renewable energies ambitions.
Morocco’s investment in development projects is estimated at $6 billion.
In his presentation, Andersen also called on developing countries to invest in nature and initiate the shift in energy transformation to achieve a “renewed economy” that respects the environment.
The installed capacity of renewable energy sources in Morocco amounts to 3,950 megawatts.
The number represents about 37% of the total installed electric power or 20% of the country’s electricity demand.
Read Also: Morocco Prioritizes Renewable Energy and Flood Protection Projects
Around 100 renewable energy programs are under development in Morocco.
The country is also home to several major solar projects, including the Ouarzazate Solar Plant.
The world should tackle climate change, biodiversity challenges, and pollution crises at the same time, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)’s report.
UN Secretary-General Guteress said that such crises require “urgent action by the whole of society.”
Guteress said that about two-thirds of global CO2 emissions are linked to households, emphasizing that “people’s choices matter.”
“The atmosphere and the oceans have become dumping grounds for our waste and governments continue to pay more to exploit nature than to protect it,” he lamented, adding that “we overuse and degrade the environment on land and sea,” the UN chief said.
Despite a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions due to COVID-19, global warming is set to increase by 3 degrees Celsius during this century, said the UNDP report .
Pollution-related diseases kill some nine million people prematurely every year, while more than a million plant and animal species are at risk of disappearing, the study found.
