Morocco to Export Green Electricity to Four European Countries

Rabat – Morocco signed on Tuesday a memorandum of understanding with France, Germany, Portugal, and Spain to support the integration of green electricity markets in Europe in line with efforts to mitigate climate change.

The agreement signed in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on the sidelines of COP 27, focuses on a two-year plan to remove “unjustified” barriers for cross-border renewable corporate power purchase agreements between all parties, as well as adopting measures to facilitate financial, and technical cooperation.

“The signature of this MoU,” according to Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Leila Benali, “marks the common willingness of our five countries to promote exchanges on a larger scale of clean and environmentally friendly energies.”

Morocco’s Ministry of Energy Transition Leila Benali next to a representative of the four European countries.

While the MoU currently focuses on short-term goals, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, France, and Germany are considering medium and long-term actions for the integration of energy markets of the European states in line with the EU’s Green Deal.

The comprehensive pact aims to reach net zero by 2050 and mitigate climate change and environmental degradation to make Europe the “first climate-neutral continent.”

The transcontinental green electricity deal concluded yesterday, it adds to previous initiatives aiming to support Morocco’s growing renewable energy infrastructure to meet the demand for power in Europe such as the British Xlinks project.

In addition to power purchase deals, Morocco has signed other agreements in line with article 6 of the Paris agreement which calls for strengthening cooperation between countries to collectively reach decarbonization and act on global warming.

On Monday, Morocco and Switzerland agreed to reiterate their commitment to article 6 by signing a cooperation agreement, aiming to support the climate agenda of both countries to keep rising global temperatures below 1.5 degrees celsius by 2100.

Rabat and Bern have previously agreed to lay the foundation for carbon trading, a key concept in article 6, and other climate-related conventions including the Tokyo Protocol. In September, the Swiss governing body approved bilateral carbon trading agreements with Morocco, Malawi, and Uruguay.

With Morocco’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels and industry per capita estimated at 1.75 tonnes per capita in 2020, the country is less polluting than major industrial and economic hubs such as Switzerland (3.37 tonnes per capita) and Singapore (7.78 tonnes per capita).

In October, Singapore-based media reported that the southeast Asian country is currently in talks with Morocco to buy carbon credits in a bid to meet climate goals.

The trade would allow Singapore-based companies to offset their carbon footprint by purchasing Moroccan carbon credits (each equivalent to one tonne of CO2 or other greenhouse gases).