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Climate Action
News article28 June 2021Directorate-General for Climate Action

The EU and Morocco form a Green Partnership on energy, climate and the environment ahead of COP 26

The European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco today announced their intention to establish a Green Partnership. 

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The European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco today announced their intention to establish a Green Partnership. The partners aim to strengthen their cooperation in the fight against climate change, and to work together on advancing their energy transition, protecting the environment and boosting the green economy. The first results of this work are to be presented at COP 26 in November.

At the high-level event, Morocco also presented the substantial and ambitious revision of its NDC to reach a 45.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Once finalised, this partnership will contribute to Morocco achieving its objectives, both in decarbonising the economy or and in strengthening the resilience of sectors most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

The Green Partnership with Morocco will be one of the EU’s first initiatives with a partner country that will aim to advance the external dimension of the European Green Deal through action on the ground.

On this key milestone, Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans, said: "The EU has set high climate ambitions with the Green Deal and we will soon present the legislative proposals to accelerate our emissions reductions. But the climate and biodiversity crises are global crises, and we can only succeed if we work closely together with our partners. We aim to bring all countries on board a global race to zero. With its new, more ambitious climate target for 2030, Morocco is already demonstrating a strong commitment to climate action. We will work now together towards a Green Partnership, to share best practices and develop joint projects in circular economy, green finance, and clean energy."

In the context of reinforced cooperation, the European Union and Morocco have also announced the payment of 12 million euro in the framework of the Competitiveness and Green Growth Programme, which supports green transition reforms for industries and regulatory convergence. They have also announced that EU services have recently signed a financing agreement of a 20M euro programme, co-financed by the French Development Agency (AFD), in support of rural development. For the next programming cycle (2021-2027), around 30% of the EU budget for external cooperation (NDCI) will be devoted to the fight against climate change mitigation and adaptation

Once established, this Green Partnership should allow the EU and Morocco to:

  • progress towards their common goals of becoming low-carbon, climate-resilient economies and transition to a green economy;
  • strengthen early policy dialogue and coordination on energy, climate change, environmental protection and the green economy at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels;
  • foster innovative, sustainable, job-creating and environmentally friendly projects;
  • develop triangular cooperation with other international actors to encourage a stronger commitment to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and collectively advance the global climate agenda.

The European Commission and Morocco are already collaborating in the framework of the Energy Transition Council under the COP26 Presidency. Both sides will present a progress report on the work done in the context of the Partnership in November 2021 at COP26.

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Publication date
28 June 2021
Author
Directorate-General for Climate Action