Leila Benali, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development (METSD), and Nandita Parshad, Managing Director for Sustainable Infrastructure of the EBRD, agreed to expand their partnership in a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Marrakech on October 11th, to support Morocco’s renewable energy transition.
This collaboration will work toward advancing the use of renewable energy, implementing energy efficiency measures across industries, and creating a transparent electricity market.
The EBRD and METSD have agreed a to support Morocco’s public power utility, Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau potable (ONEE) in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions and to strengthen ONEE’s resilience, particularly by accelerating the company’s digitalization and through the implementation of Law 48-15 on electricity market regulation.
A number of long-term strategic interests will be covered by the partnership, including the adoption of a carbon-neutral trajectory and the progressive phase-out of fossil fuel assets over the ensuing decades.
Minister Benali said “We are very pleased today to announce this partnership with our long-standing partner EBRD, that comes at a very crucial time for our relationship with our European partners, in line with the Green Partnership signed by Morocco. This is all the more important given the ambitious investment program that is carried by our national utility company ONEE, and its corporate transformation. This MoU will support a key element of our strategy: reinforce the grids and ensure long-term sustainable financing in agile and robust energy systems.”
Nandita Parshad, Managing Director of the Sustainable Infrastructure group at EBRD said “in the wake of climate emergency, Morocco has been at the forefront of the continent’s climate effort and is now taking new steps to put the country on a sustainable pathway using both climate adaptation and mitigation technologies. Today, by signing this MoU, we strengthen an already vibrant cooperation on energy transition. We welcome the Ministry’s commitment to the decarbonization of the electricity sector.”
Morocco is known for having one of the most ambitious strategies in the region for expanding renewable energy sources and developing cutting-edge green technologies.
Through direct and indirect financing as well as policy dialogue initiatives, the EBRD has been assisting Morocco’s energy sector’s decarbonization and transition to green energy for more than ten years.
As a result, the EBRD is currently the most active international financial institution supporting green investments in the Moroccan private sector.