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Rabat – Morocco and Egypt have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27) in a bid to develop joint environmental research projects and foster knowledge transfer on climate change and sustainable development.
The MoU calls for promoting energy transition, waste management, and environmental innovation in both countries. It also strengthens environmental governance, coastal management, and biodiversity and ecosystem rehabilitation.
Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Leila Benali signed the agreement with Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad on November 9 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, reiterating Rabat and Cairo’s commitments to green transition and sustainable development.
Morocco and Egypt are leading African promoters of the green transition. The two countries have developed renewable energy infrastructures, are strong candidates for producing low-cost green hydrogen, and are set to boost the decarbonization of their energy systems.
Egypt notably plans to supply 42% of its electricity from renewable sources while Morocco works on reaching its 50% goal in 2030.
Read Also: Morocco Establishes Its First Green Hydrogen Production System
This year, the two countries renewed interest in developing a pipeline of green hydrogen projects by co-launching the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance along with Mauritania, Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa.
The initiative aims to increase regional access to affordable renewable energies and calls for adopting regulatory and policy reforms, building local capacities, and encouraging investments in green hydrogen products to meet domestic needs.
In addition to promoting technical cooperation, Rabat and Cairo are working on attracting investments for their coming green hydrogen projects.
Egypt, for instance, has attracted more than $100 billion of investments in green hydrogen ahead of COP 27, says DFI Intelligence.
Roughly 70% of the investments come from foreign investors like Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), India’s Acme Group; and UAE’s Alcazar Energy.
As for Morocco, the country has recently launched pilot initiatives to study prospects of scaling up green hydrogen and green ammonia projects across the country.
The projects are based on developing cross-border partnerships with the support of local stakeholders such as Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), OCP Group, Gaia Energy, and foreign entities such as Chariot Limited, Oort Energy, and H2Pro.
While Morocco’s green hydrogen sector remains in its infancy stages, numerous reports have highlighted the country’s potential in becoming a major hydrogen exporter.
In the past months, Saudi Arabia’s power generation expert ACWA Power and India’s multinational conglomerate Adani Group shared their plans to invest in Morocco’s emerging green hydrogen infrastructure. Germany also vowed to allocate €38 million (MAD 408 million) to support the construction of the country’s first green hydrogen plant.
