On Tuesday P4P Peers met with a cross-party delegation of MPs from the House of Representatives in the Moroccan parliament.
The meeting explored how the UK and Morocco can work together to tackle climate change, at both government and parliamentary level.
The delegation outlined how Morocco is committed to contributing to global efforts to tackle the climate crisis, with one of its key contributions hosting COP22 in Marrakech in 2016. Since then, domestic efforts to tackle climate change have included efforts to shift car production to EVs and landmark legislation to ban the importing, selling and production of plastic bags in the Kingdom.
Peers heard how public support for climate action has increased in Morocco due to the real-world impacts of climate change now being felt across the country. Morocco has experienced several years of drought, challenges of water scarcity and heatwaves – including record winter temperatures this year that has helped to convince the public further action is needed.
A key driver of the transition in Morocco remains investing in low-carbon energy sources, including the Kingdom’s target of sourcing 52% of its electricity needs from renewables by 2030. The delegation said that solar and wind will lead the future of mix of technologies, and welcomed cooperation with the UK on clean energy, and in particular on proposals for the X-links Morocco-UK Power Project.
Peers were told that the proposed link could supply up to 11.5GW of renewable energy to the UK via 3,800km HVDC sub-sea cables, and explored issues around the economic viability of the project, security challenges around undersea cabling, as well as the economic opportunities the project could create in both countries. There was also a discussion about the potential of nuclear power to compliment renewables-based systems of the future in both the UK and Morocco, as well other domestic uses for nuclear energy such as medicines and desalination.
The delegation welcomed UK-Morocco collaboration on creating clean energy systems at both government and parliamentary level, and said they looked forward to further dialogues and collaboration in the future.
