In the past few years, Morocco’s energy consumption has been steadily increasing. In the past few years, Morocco has also developed an ambitious energy strategy, which needs now more than ever to be reviewed in order to level up the potential of natural resources (wind, solar, etc.) as an opportunity for a green, inclusive and resilient recovery Post Covid-19.
In the past few years, Morocco’s energy consumption has been steadily increasing.
In the past few years, Morocco has also developed an ambitious energy strategy, which needs now more than ever to be reviewed in order to level up the potential of natural resources (wind, solar, etc.) as an opportunity for a green, inclusive and resilient recovery Post Covid-19.
We, Moroccan young people have strong moral values in this field. We care about the future of energy and we want to make a difference and to create an added value.
However, there is one serious barrier to us getting involved: accessibility of reliable information and platforms for in-depth learning and engagement on renewable energy. In a pertinent geographical context like Morocco where the largest concentrated renewable power plants have been installed, the role of young people and civil society in advocating for renewable energy and ensuring access to clean energy is still very much needed.
Despite the efforts made by the government in the past 10 years to promote the use of renewable energies and energy efficiency in various sectors, we can still witness a very modest contribution and involvement of civil society, especially within young people, which raise many questions…
The lack of active participation of civil society is mainly due to the absence of “reasonable awareness” among Moroccan citizens regarding the harmful impacts of climate change on their daily lives and regarding the advantages of renewable energies and energy efficiency as well.
At the same time, hundreds of qualified young people graduate annually from schools and universities, but there is no real inclusive approach and strategy to integrate them into the energy job market.
We as motivated young people, we want to imagine the post-COVID Morocco as a greener Morocco with more and more youth involved in energy policies, strategies and job opportunities.
Three years ago in Ouarzazate city, we started to initiate this vision, by imagining a way to contribute to involving young people in the Moroccan energy transition process.
We created the Moroccan Youth Centre for Sustainable Energy (CJMED) with a main goal: 1-to encourage young people and civil society actors to actively participate in Morocco’s energy transition strategies, 2-to develop innovative and participatory approaches and 3- to facilitate the communication and the dialogue about renewable possibilities for the population, especially the one living in rural areas.
Three years ago, we started to imagine how such a platform could be created and supported to boost young people and civil society role regarding renewable energies so that they could fully be part of the country’s development.
The centre was created officially in 2019. We wanted it to be seen as an inclusive platform for youth, which aims to ensure a meaningful engagement of the new generation who would be strengthened to develop plans and make recommendations regarding renewable energy actions to take at the local and national level in the upcoming years.
Through this article, we would like to share our vision of a post-COVID more sustainable Morocco, where the “Moroccan Youth Centre for Sustainable Energy” would be considered as a dynamic group that brings together young professionals and decision makers passionate about the field of renewable energies and sustainable development in Morocco.
In the upcoming 10 years, we would like to see Morocco becoming a leader in the field of renewables. We imagine the country becoming a key actor that would promote clean energy not only nationally but also at the international level.
The Morocco we want to see after the COVID crisis would capitalize on its youth collective intelligence, skills and strengths to support innovation and collaboration led by young Moroccans to build up more sustainable and resilient policies and strategies in the field of renewable energies.
Moroccan young people would be involved in the development and the implementation of local projects with socio-economic and environmental impacts that particularly benefit to the most disadvantaged areas and most vulnerable people.
The CJMED could be in that sense an inclusive and a participatory key platform where people from different backgrounds could share experiences and knowledge about clean energy and develop some good practices and ideas related to renewables to be tested, approved, implemented by young people and promoted at the national level.
In the post-Covid Morocco, Moroccan young people should have a seat at the table to review the energy transition strategies.
Moroccan young people should be involved in energy public debate and stand alongside with national stakeholders, politicians, and business leaders in order to propose alternative solutions to the current climate crisis.
We are lucky enough to be part of Morocco’s youth and based in such country with a clear and clean energy vision, but not lucky enough yet to be part of the decision-making, the solution’s design and its implementation.
Within the Moroccan Youth Center for Sustainable Energy, we imagine a Morocco in which a large community of young people are supported to accelerate the transition from coal to clean energy by 2030… because they had the knowledge, the skills and the opportunities to do so and to make it happen.
Morocco should seize this crisis opportunity to bounce back better, stronger and to build up a brand new green identity. Today solar and wind are already cheaper than coal power in most of countries and their cost continues to fall rapidly.
As a young committee, we will need to keep strongly supporting the inclusion of young people in energy projects, since we believe that the young generation should play a central role in bringing fresh ideas at all stages of sustainable energy: from community businesses to policy making.
Moreover, as Moroccan youth voices, we would need a government and decision makers who are ready to reflect on these elements in an inclusive and a participatory way and to apply and eventually align them to the Moroccan ongoing energy strategic reforms.