Morocco Ranks 7th in Climate Change Performance Index 2023

Rabat – Morocco has ranked seventh in the recently-published Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) thanks to its commitment to decarbonization efforts and support of green solutions in the energy and transport sectors.

The ranking, issued by Germanwatch, New Climate Institute, and Climate Action Network, left the first three positions empty since “no country was strong enough in all index categories to achieve an overall high rating.”

Denmark followed in the fourth position as the world’s best-performing country in climate protection ahead of Sweden, Chile, Morocco, India, Estonia, and Norway.

The report assessed the performance of 27 countries and the EU block across four categories: greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use, and climate policy. The selected countries account for over 92% of global greenhouse emissions.

This year, Morocco improved its position in the ranking by one spot.

“As in the previous two years, Morocco rates high in three main CCPI categories: GHG emissions, energy use, and climate policy,” the report indicated.

The report added that the North African country secured a “medium” rating in the renewable energy category after obtaining a very high rate for its positive trend in renewable energy. However, Morocco had “a very low rating for its share of renewable energy and a low for its 2030 targets.”

While Morocco has led positive developments in line with the green agenda, CCPI experts criticized the country’s current laws for “lacking implementing force and lacking the industrial sector’s adherence to them.”

They also highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic, water scarcity, and the global economic crisis worsened by the war in Ukraine are cooling down Rabat’s ambitions.

In this context, the decentralization of renewable energy is likely to contribute positively to the acceleration of the decarbonization agenda. However, Morocco appears to “lack the will” to encourage citizens to produce their own clean energy, the report argued.

As the world gradually moves towards decentralized energy markets to expand energy security, the Moroccan government maintains a strong hold on the green energy sectors with a few microgrids and small-scale renewables projects taking place across the country.

Morocco’s interest in prioritizing centralized grid systems echoes a trend often associated with developed countries.

According to EY’s recent report on Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI), “centralized grid network is most prevalent in developed economies, while there is more exploration and implementation of alternative means of accessing electricity in developing economies, given historical electricity access deficits.”