morocco- casablanca

The Urban Pathways Implementation Tracker
is tracking the Projects Progress and delivers information on its four main outputs:

​INFORM, INSPIRE, INITIATE & IMPLEMENTATION

city profile: casablanca

Morocco´s Nationally Determined Contributions: 
Morocco intends to reduce GHG emissions by 42 % by 2030 compared to BAU projected emissions. 
Population 34.38 million (2015)
Area 446,550 km2
GDP 110.7 US$MM (2017)
Urban population growth 2.162% (2016)
CO2 emission 54.93 Mt CO2 (2015)
CO2 emissions per capita 1.60 t CO2/capita (2015)
CO2/GDP 0.49 kg CO2 (2015)

Population
Casablanca: 3 359 818 (2015)
Casablanca-Settat Region 6 861 739 (2015)
 
Located in the western part of Morocco with a population of 3,359,818 (2014), Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco. With an area of 220 km2, Casablanca city forms a part of larger metropolitan area called the grand Casablanca. The city has the largest economy in Morocco, which the industrial and service sectors have a biggest share in it. In 2014 the region of Casablanca-Settat accounted for 32% of Morocco’s GDP.

Energy: Casablanca city is experiencing an economic and population growth along with an increased demand for energy. The local authority in Casablanca aims to reach energy efficiency by combining an electricity consumption reduction plan with promoting electricity production from renewable energy resources.

Transport: In 2005 only 15% of the city population used public transport. The city’s local authority intends to increase access to public transport to 21% by 2019, which consists of BRT, tramway and bus network - effectively connecting different parts of the city and reduce the GHG emissions from transport sector. The municipality has planned 3 tram lanes and 4 BRT lanes by the year 2022. By strengthening public transport, the city expects to reduce the private car usage. Alongside the tram lanes, to increase safety and security, a green corridor and pedestrian facilities has been established. The planed transport infrastructure will also contribute to the integration of different neighbourhoods in the whole city plan. 

Although the number of the people using public transport in the city has increased since 2005, Casablanca is still facing many challenges. First, the car is still considered a marker of social status and so a high share of residents depends on the private cars in the city. Second, cultural barriers make it difficult for women to use two wheels transport modes, for instance bikes and scooters. Third, Even though the city has a sophisticated public transport plan, the citizens are still not fully involved in the planning and implementation process of transport projects. The impact of the project implementation has not yet been measured in the city of Casablanca; however an assessment of the results should be done in 2022 after the completion of the tram lines and BRT system (Sdoukopoulos, 2016).

Waste management: Between 2000 and 2005, the waste management sector in Casablanca had to deal with several problems. For example, the damaged waste infrastructure was not covering the needs of the residents. To increase efficiency the municipality of Casablanca privatized the waste management sector.  Waste management in the city is divided into two sectors, management of waste treatment and cleanliness management. In 2008, the city delegated the management of waste treatment to the Moroccan-American company Écomed Casa for a period of 18 years.  In 2014 the city delegated the cleanliness management to two companies for a period of 7 years. The first is called Sita Blanca, a French company affiliated to the Suez Environment group. The second is called Averda Casa, a Lebanese company affiliated to the group Averda International. After submitting the NDC in 2016, the private companies had to improve their strategies and equipment to cope with the proposed targets. These improvements included new waste infrastructure installation and new monitoring methods to ensure efficiency, as well as a plan to increase the share of recycled waste. 

The municipality in Casablanca has a strategy to improve the waste management sector in the city by 2020. The municipality aims to improve waste management in the city by separating waste on the household level and Increase the amount of waste being recycled. It is planning as well programs to reach full efficiency in the waste collection and treatment process. The city plans to close the largest landfill in Casablanca by April 2018 as a first step.

factsheets on energy, transport and waste management

The factsheets provide a basic introduction to specific measures in the areas of energy, mobility and waste management, which aims to provide a basket of possible solutions to partner cities.

UP Factsheets

e-learning programme

E-learning programme builds on the toolbox and factsheets and aims to provide a better understanding of possible actions, highlighting the experiences from the implementation of measures in other cities building on the wealth of knowledge of international experts. ​

UP E-Learning

Action Tracker

The Urban Pathways Action Tracker provides an overview of the project’s activities in the cities and reflects on the various action areas. The main objective of this is to share learnings with other cities and identify opportunities for synergies with other projects and initiatives.

UP Action Tracker

Capacity building in Morocco

change maker programme

The Urban Change Maker Programme actively trains and involves motivated junior and senior experts to contribute our joint effort of delivering on the New Urban Agenda with concepts for low-carbon urban energy, mobility and waste management systems.

City-to-City Partnerships

Regional Replication

policy environment assessment on morocco

n 2016 Morocco approved the Paris agreement and delivered its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The NDC It has been developed in a national conference in Rabat city in a conference that included different stakeholders, namely representatives of ministries and representatives of international organizations, in order to ensure their support in the implementation plan. In its NDC, Morocco aims to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 17% below Business as Usual (BAU) by 2030. In case of sufficient international financial support, by 2030 Morocco intends to reduce GHG emission by 42% below BAU. Between 2020 and 2030, a reduction of 527 Mt CO2 will be reached. Morocco has also set adaptation objectives in the most vulnerable sectors, namely agriculture, water and forests sectors. The cost of adaptation strategies and implementation plans between 2020 and 2030 are estimated by 35 billion USD.

• Population 35 276 786 (2016)
• Area 446,550 km2
• GDP 110.7 US$MM (2017)
• Urban population growth 2.162% (2016)
• CO2 emission 54.93 Mt CO2 (2015)
• CO2 emissions per capita 1.60 t CO2/capita (2015)
• CO2/GDP 0.49 kg CO2 (2015)

Transport 
Between 2012 and 2014, Morocco witnessed a drop in the amount of CO2emission per capita due to the implementation of the recent environmental policy; a big share of this drop was thanks to the development of the public transport system in its different forms, namely tramway and BRT. The Moroccan government has set priorities and strategies to reach the CO2emission reduction target of its NDC in the transport sector. The Moroccan government tries to make the public transport sustainable and inclusive, at the same time, promoting other sustainable transport mode like walking and cycling.
In 2014 Morocco’s CO2 emission from transport sector reached 28.84% (International Energy Agency, 2014). As a mitigation effort stated in the NDC, the transport sector is expected to contribute by 2030 to a reduction of 14.4% in the energy generation and consumption in Morocco. Morocco aims to transform the urban public transportation system from conventional energy to renewable energy. In order to decrease GHG emissions from the transport sector, Morocco considers a Taxi Fleet Renewal Program as well. As a part of its NDC strategies in transport sector Morocco intends to create 200 million USD to improve urban road transportation.(Morocco NDC, 2016)
In 2015, within P4R project, the World Bank started to support the Moroccan government with 3 billion US dollars over a decade to address the urban transport. The program has two objectives - improving transport sector management (strengthening institutions) and establishing a new urban transport infrastructure to improve citizen’s access to economic opportunities and social services. The government launched a comprehensive program across Moroccan regions from 2016 to 2019 that has already achieved tangible outcome. For example, the extension of the tramway in Casablanca and establishment of the green Marrakech bike network in the city of Marrakech (“Supporting Casablanca Meet its Optimal Development Scenario”, 2015).

Energy ​
In 2014 Moroccan energy use was 553kg of oil equivalent per capita, of which 90% was imported. Even though Morocco has a small effect on the total GHG emissions, the Moroccan government intends to reduce energy consumption to mitigate climate change (International Energy Agency, 2014). In the energy sector, clean fuel was one of the solutions implemented by policy makers in Morocco.  Progress has been achieved, but the main challenge remains within the growing urban areas. The solar power plants will play a big role in the generation of clean electricity in the case of Morocco. According to the World Bank, by 2020 the largest solar power plants in the world will be established in the city of Querzazate. This project will reduce reliance on energy import and help avoid 240 000 tons of CO2equivalent per year (Morocco to Make History with First-of-Its-Kind Solar Plant, 2015).
 
As Inits NDC, Morocco aims to reach its GHG reduction targets by transforming the energy sector while keeping the demand side in the energy market satisfied. This transformation should be achieved through a decrease in the foreign energy sources and promoting the implementation of renewable energy projects in Morocco. Morocco has set many strategies to achieve its NDC energy sector target. First, Morocco aims to reduce the energy consumption by 15% by 2030. Second, until 2030 Morocco aims to produce 52% of its electricity from renewable energy source, which will be divided as follows: 30% from solar energy, 20% from wind energy and 12% from hydraulic energy. Third, Morocco intends to increase the use of natural gas and plans to provide industries with imported natural gas by pipelines. 

Waste
In Morocco the urban waste generation is 0.76 kilos per capita, while the rural waste generation per capita is 0.3 kilos per day per capita. Between 2008 and 2013 the total waste disposed in landfills has increased from 10% to 37%. Since 1990 Morocco has ratified international agreements that address environmental degradation, for example, Rotterdam Convention, the Convention on Climate Change in 1995 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. In the new constitution after 2011 the waste management policies has been reformed, since the new constitution adopts sustainable development. In 2011, Morocco has set new strategies and action plans to be implemented by 2030 (“Morocco: Improving Municipal Solid Waste Management through Development Policy Operations”, 2013). A plan to reform the waste sector has been set. The national solid waste program was developed by the ministries of Interior, Finance and Environment. The World Bank provided the program with financial and technical support. The Moroccan government intended to implement solid waste management programs in cooperation with international organizations, experienced in this field. Therefore the Environmental Protection and Management program was established in 2010 in cooperation with German Corporation for International Cooperation(GIZ). The program was implemented to provide capacity building for local communities in Morocco (“Report on the Solid Waste Management in Morocco”, 2014). 
As a strategy to contribute to Morocco´s climate change mitigation goals, the NDC of Morocco has included a national waste recovery program, in which Morocco intends to establish a standardized waste management master plan for all regions in the kingdom of Morocco. Morocco’s resource efficiency plan includes achieving recycling centres for urban areas by 2020 and collection of 100% of household waste by 2030. As a first step, Morocco intends to implement a pilot project to achieve a 20% of recycling rate by 2020. Along with previous actions, Morocco intends to raise awareness on waste issues (Morocco NDC, 2016)

Policy Development

Project Development

Funding solutions

Implementation Facility

Action Plans

Bankable projects

Implementation support