To achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, Germany needs strategic partners like Morocco. Berlin and Rabat have just signed an Energy-Climate Alliance focusing on the development of renewable energies and green hydrogen, the by-products of which will soon be essential to the global economy.
Relations between Germany and Morocco, which date back 68 years, have grown stronger over the years, particularly in terms of trade, which reached almost €4.9 billion in 2022. This cooperation will be taken even further thanks to the Energy-Climate Alliance that the two countries have just sealed at the first session of the German-Moroccan Strategic Dialogue, held recently in the German capital.
Berlin and Rabat will therefore be working together to strengthen adaptation to climate change, and to develop renewable energies and green hydrogen. “Morocco has excellent conditions for producing electricity from the wind and the sun, with which it can cover the needs of its own economy and, in future, also start exporting green hydrogen to Germany”, says the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The interest is too great for the German authorities, since the hydrogen produced in the Cherifian kingdom will be exported to Germany for the benefit of industries in Berlin and Bavaria, whose carbon footprint is highly controversial. This new energy source is a less polluting alternative, as its combustion does not emit the CO2 that causes global warming, but rather water and heat.
Why Morocco?
But it’s impossible for Germany to go it alone in this emerging sector, which requires land and solar and wind energy potential that it doesn’t necessarily have today. As allies, the Germans and Moroccans will be pooling their efforts to establish themselves in this new energy market by exploiting hydrogen derivatives such as green ammonia used in agriculture and the synthetic fuel that is increasingly being considered by certain airlines. The stakes are therefore strategic for this Energy-Climate Alliance.
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The other factor that justifies the choice of Morocco is that it is one of the Top 6 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with “strong potential for the production and export of green hydrogen”, according to the World Economic Forum. Morocco is also one of the 13 member countries (along with Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, etc.) of the Compact with Africa. This initiative of the German federal government, supported by the Group of 20 most developed countries (G20), aims to achieve a climate-friendly energy supply, among other things. A budget of €4 billion has been announced for the second half of 2023.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
