Morocco kicked off a new ICAT project, focused on climate finance tracking, with a workshop held in Rabat on 5 March 2024. This marks the third ICAT project in the country, following successful previous projects to enhance climate transparency in the Souss-Massa region. Morocco’s Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development is leading the project implementation, with support from international experts from Gauss International.

Climate finance tracking plays a very important role in Morocco’s climate action. The national framework that will be developed through the ICAT project will help to better understand the climate finance landscape in Morocco. This will enable the Moroccan government to accurately assess financial needs and effectively allocate and mobilize resources for the implementation of climate policies and measures.

Tracking climate finance helps countries fulfill their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – their commitments made under the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience against adverse climate change impacts. By understanding the costs of implementing these plans and the existing financial flows, Morocco can identify funding gaps and develop strategies to attract more investment.

The workshop brought together a diverse group of around sixty stakeholders, including representatives from government ministries, public agencies, environmental groups, banks, and cooperation agencies. This gathering provided a valuable platform to discuss the project’s goals and initial steps for tracking climate finance on a national scale.

“The climate finance tracking framework should build the trust and confidence of stakeholders involved. It needs to be credible to be able to engage for instance investors, both those in the country and internationally. For this, the framework must be transparent, and involve stakeholders in building it” said ICAT Director, Dr. Henning Wuester, in his virtual address to the workshop participants.

The project will utilize a targeted climate finance tracking methodology developed by ICAT, which is also being implemented in other countries. The effectiveness of the methodology’s approach was recently validated in a conference uniting experts from over thirty different countries and international organizations, including representatives from Morocco.