Climate change, caused by emissions of Greenhouse gases (GHG) is already a threat on a global scale, since many extreme weather events (e.g. extreme temperatures, heavy precipitation or drought) are now attributable to climate change (for more information see Extreme event allocation). Although all activities contribute to the country's GHG emissions, energy use remains by far the biggest source of emissions, despite the recent boom in renewable energies.
National greenhouse gas emissions
Since the beginning of the 90s, GHG emissions have triple (fig 1.a) to over 90 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2eq) in 2019. The main sectors of GHG emissions are :
- Energy sector : Its share of national GHG emissions remained preponderant at over 60% to reach 73% of 2019 emissions. This year, its emissions are mainly split (fig 1.b) between electricity and heat production (43%), transport of people and goods (29%), energy used in buildings (12%) and energy used to power industry and construction (11%).
- Agricultural sector : By increasing from 12 to 15 Mt CO2eq (i.e. 16% of 2019 emissions) over this period, the sector experienced a small jump in emissions, contrasting with the productivity gains achieved by the sector over the same period.
- Industrial processes sector : Emissions from this sector have increased by a factor of 3, following the same trend as the increase in its size. added value emissions in the country to 6.3 Mt CO2eq in 2019.
- Waste sector : With nearly 5 Mt CO2eq in 2019, the sector contributed 5% of total emissions.
- Land use change & forestry sector : Although carbon sinks (negative emissions from this sector) fell sharply in the early 2010s (from 4.4 to 1.4 Mt CO2eq stored), the country intends to "develop sustainable and resilient agriculture and forest ecosystems and carbon sinks" as explained in the Long-Term Low-Carbon Strategy Morocco 2050 (LTS - 2050).
Recent trends in emissions (11.3%) over the 2012-2018 period (fig 2) stem mainly from the following sectors: the transport sector contributed more than third party of this growth, the power/heat generation and agricultural sectors each contributed nearly 20% of this increase, and to a lesser extent the agricultural sector accounted for 13% of this increase. On the other hand, emissions linked to energy use by the industry/construction sector fell, mitigating the 0.9 % rise in emissions.
In addition to being the main GHG emitting sector, the energy sector has concentrated more than 80 % of the recent increase in emissions. So we're going to look at the sources of energy consumption and the Moroccan power generation system.
Focus on the energy sector
Since 1990, the amount of final energy consumed in Morocco has more than tripled from 236,000 TJ (terajoule) to over 700,000 TJ in 2019 (fig 3.a). During this period, the share of petroleum products in total energy consumption stabilized at around 70 %. Thanks to their potential to provide low-carbon energy, some electricity sources (hydro, solar, wind and nuclear) can help reduce the energy sector's footprint. However, the Moroccan electricity mix (fig 3.b) will still be largely dominated by fossil fuels in 2020 (coal accounting for almost 70% of current supply) despite the recent penetration of renewable energies (wind and solar reached 15% of electricity in 2020 versus 0% in 1990). Thanks to its solar potential among the world's largest, the country has the capacity to reach the target of 52% "of renewable energy in total installed electricity capacity by 2030" (LTS - 2050). At the same time, it will reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels.
By signing the Paris Agreement, countries committed to "strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to further limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius" (UNFCC). However, not all countries have contributed to the problem in the same way, as the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities" reminds us. This raises the question of Morocco's position on this issue..
Article by Mehdi Mikou