Morocco—Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (MorSEFF)

Like with its successful PolSEFF and WebSEFF projects in Poland and the Western Balkans, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), in cooperation with the French Agency for Development, European Investment Bank, and KfW Development Bank, extended credit lines to local partner financial institutions in Morocco that then on-lent to their clients. These clients—small business and corporate borrowers—used this financing to invest in efficient and renewable energy equipment and services that decreased their carbon footprints and improved their bottom lines.

The €110 million allocated to MorSEFF included financial contributions from EBRD, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the European Union (EU). Those funds were on-lent to industrial companies willing to invest in green-energy equipment and complemented by EU-funded technical assistance or grants to participating companies.

Investments supported by MorSEFF resulted in 207,289-megawatt hours of annual energy savings and helped avoid 102,725 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually.

Sample Activities

• Provide partner financial institutions with technical assistance in developing marketing strategies and activities to build customer awareness and fill the pipeline with clean energy projects.
• Work with other agencies—including government, business associations, and development finance institutions—to promote the facility.
• Train local engineers, energy auditors, architects, and designers to identify and prepare bankable sustainable energy projects.

Select Results

• Supported two financial institutions to on-lend €109.5 million to 260 energy efficiency projects.
• Trained 278 credit officers in the financial institutions and 40 local engineers in energy efficiency financing.
• Raised awareness of energy efficiency in the small and midsize business sector by supporting the financial institutions in marketing through industry workshops and events.
• Spurred development of a local production base for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
• In 2018, the EBRD injected an extra €40 million into the facility and admitted Banque Marocaine pour le Commerce et l’Industrie—BNP Paribas Group—as a third partner.