Morocco: pioneering a long-term and coordinated approach to achieving its NDCs

Recently, the NDC Action Project embarked on a week-long mission to Rabat, Morocco, convened by Morocco’s Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development with the support of the NDC Partnership. The objective was twofold: to assess Morocco's progress in NDC implementation and to facilitate preparations for the forthcoming NDC cycle revision, slated for submission to the UNFCCC ahead of COP30 in Brazil in 2025.
The mission was led by the UNEP NDC Action team.

Ministerial departments and key institutions engaged in NDC provided valuable inputs regarding successful stories of implementation as well as the challenges encountered, particularly in areas such as access to finance. Their contributions were instrumental in shedding light on the current state of NDC implementation in Morocco. Additionally, these inputs will serve as crucial components of the future inclusive process of updating the NDC during 2024 and 2025.

Supporting long term emission reductions

Since 2021, the NDC Action Project has been actively supporting Morocco's Long-Term Low-Emission Development Strategy (LT LEDS) in collaboration with various stakeholders, including the Agence Française de Développement, Stockholm Environment Institute, and Deloitte Maroc. Notably, the LT LEDS was officially announced at COP28 in Dubai and is anticipated to be submitted before COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In the coming weeks and throughout 2024, the NDC Action Project will undertake three priority technical assistance projects in collaboration with the Moroccan government thanks to the NDC Partnership Action Funds (PAF):

• Enhancing stakeholder capacity in NDC investment planning
• Developing a Green Climate Fund Project Preparation Facility
• Exploring opportunities for integrating nature-based solutions into programs

These endeavours are not only connected to the LT LEDS support but also could be a key input to the incoming revision process of Morocco's NDC.

A checklist for bankability and donor streamlining

During the mission, the NDC Action Project team engaged with the NDC Partnership Support Unit to discuss matters such as the deployment of the Checklist tool, aimed at facilitating the bankability of climate projects—an initiative in which Morocco will play a pivotal role as one of six countries selected to deploy the tool under the Partnership Action Fund.

The mission also provided an opportunity to convene donors and implementing agencies around a roundtable to explore avenues for enhancing coordination and synergies to the benefit of implementing Morocco's NDC. During this gathering, key next steps were agreed upon to streamline collaboration and optimize the impact of efforts towards fulfilling Morocco's NDC commitments.