Marrakech – Green Sky Capital, a clean-energy developer backed by Qatari and Saudi shareholders, is preparing to build one of the first commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel plants in Morocco and North Africa, drawing on financing arrangements now under review at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
EBRD recently disclosed project documents indicating that the facility will rise within the Bétoya Industrial and Logistic Zone of the Nador West Med (NWM) Complex, in Nador Province in the country’s north-eastern Oriental Region. The site sits roughly 30 km west of the city of Nador, near the Mediterranean coast.
The total project cost is estimated at $239 million. The EBRD is weighing a senior secured loan of up to $105 million, split into an $85 million committed tranche and a $20 million uncommitted tranche. Of that amount, up to $20 million is expected to come from the Green Climate Fund under its High Impact Programme for the Corporate Sector.
The project is also expected to benefit from a first-loss risk cover provided by the European Union under the EFSD+ guarantee known as “HI-BAR.”
Waste oils into jet fuel
The plant is designed to produce roughly 176,000 to 200,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel per year, alongside renewable diesel, renewable naphtha and small quantities of bio-propane. It will rely on Axens’ licensed Vegan Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) technology, described in the documents as the most commercially proven route for SAF production.
Rather than crude feedstocks, the facility will process waste-derived oils and fats, primarily used cooking oil, animal fats and residues from food processing and edible-oil refining.
The project will require about 200,000 tonnes of these materials annually, split between domestically sourced used cooking oil and imported used cooking oil and soap-stock acid oil. Domestic feedstocks will arrive by road tanker, while imported materials will pass through the NWM Port.
The resulting fuel is designed as a drop-in product, fully compatible with existing aircraft engines and airport infrastructure, and meeting the sustainability criteria of the EU Renewable Energy Directive. Finished products are intended mainly for export through the port, with renewable diesel and bio-propane also available to the domestic market.
Green Sky Capital is backed by its shareholders Green Sky Capital Management, Al Mana Holding, and Vision Invest. The company’s project documents list a Doha address, and it appointed SLR Consulting, working with the local consultant CLEAN TECH, to carry out the project’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).
That assessment, still at an interim stage, frames the plant as a contribution to Morocco’s push toward lower-carbon industries and the decarbonization of aviation. The EBRD assigns the transaction a transition impact score of 75 and classifies all of its financing as green finance tied to climate-mitigation objectives.
The project will occupy about 8.8 hectares of land already cleared and levelled as part of the wider NWM development. The land is owned and administered by Nador West Med and will be leased to the Moroccan project company under a long-term agreement for an initial 20 years, renewable for further 20-year periods.
Project documents indicate that no additional physical displacement or loss of agricultural activity is expected within the site boundary, though the nearest residential dwellings lie roughly 230 m away.
Jobs, skills and local safeguards
Construction is expected to employ about 400 workers at peak, with an operational workforce of around 162 personnel once the plant is running.
The overall program spans roughly 22 months, from contract award in October 2026 to start-up in August 2028. No worker accommodation camps will be built on site; non-local workers will be housed in nearby towns such as Nador, Selouane, and Beni Ensar.
Alongside the industrial build-out, the EBRD highlights a series of skills and gender measures. These include an internal operator and technician academy, a dual apprenticeship for maintenance and instrumentation technicians, and a graduate engineer traineeship delivered with local education providers in the Oriental Region.
Each carries targets for women’s participation, with the client aiming for 10% women in its workforce by 2032 in a region where female labour-force participation stood at 13.9% in 2025, against 19.1% nationally. A further pilot aims to bring women-led cooperatives and collectors into the used-cooking-oil supply chain.
The ESIA, categorized B under the EBRD’s 2024 Environmental and Social Policy, identifies a range of impacts across construction and operation. Several assessments remain outstanding, including air-quality and noise modelling, cumulative-impact work and stakeholder engagement, which will be folded into the final report.
Baseline monitoring found that particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide already exceeded World Health Organization 24-hour guideline values at two monitoring stations near residential communities, meaning construction dust could add to elevated background concentrations.
The assessment rates construction-phase air quality and noise impacts as medium before mitigation, falling to low once dust suppression, water spraying and other controls are applied.
On the socio-economic side, the documents flag risks tied to labour influx, worker-community interactions and gender-based violence and harassment, alongside positive effects from employment, local procurement and Morocco’s emerging renewable-fuels industry.
Operation will involve flammable and toxic substances, including hydrogen, bio-propane and hydrogen sulphide. A preliminary Hazard Identification study identified 110 hazard scenarios, while a Quantitative Risk Assessment examined 36 major accident scenarios; both rate community health and safety and occupational safety as medium to high before mitigation, pending a detailed risk assessment to confirm acceptable off-site risks.
The site lies within an industrial zone and does not overlap any protected areas or Key Biodiversity Areas, though the wider region includes sensitive sites such as the Alborán Sea Important Marine Mammal Area and the Sebkha Bou Areg Ramsar site. The documents note no direct loss of natural vegetation within the already cleared footprint.
The project remains in an exploratory, pending-final-review stage at the EBRD, with an approval date of November 18. Project-specific stakeholder consultations in communities within about 2 km of the site, including Sammar, Imhiaten and Bouyafar, were planned for mid-October, with their findings to feed into the final assessment.
Under Moroccan law, the facility must still clear a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment, including a public inquiry, before securing an Environmental Acceptability Decision and the authorizations needed to proceed.
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