Morocco sets up carbon trading fund

Morocco's state-run pension fund Caisee de Depot et de Gestion (CDG) has set up a carbon trading fund with capital of MD300m ($35m). CDG will hold 50 per cent of the capital of Fonds Capital Carbone Maroc (FCCM). The European Investment Bank will hold a 25 per stake.

Caisse de Depots et Consignations, which heads up sustainable development in the country, will also hold 25 per cent. FCCM will promote and participate in projects connected with implementing the clean development mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which was agreed in 1997.

Under the mechanism, countries can trade their carbon credits on an international market. The fund will also support developers by buying their carbon credits from them. It will focus on projects in the renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management and reforestation sectors.

Remittances from Europe to MPCs

Some 7.1 billion euros are “officially” transferred each year from Europe to eight Mediterranean countries (between 12 and 14 billion including “informal” transfers). These remittances far exceed total flows of net foreign direct investment (USD 6.4 bil­lion a year, 2000-2003) and official development assistance (USD 4.3 billion a year, 2000-2003) received by these countries, according to the summary of a study by the FEMIP Trust Fund.

Remittances are therefore of considerable economic importance for the Mediterranean Partner Countries, the principal official channel for remittances is often money trans­fer companies despite them being expensive, while the funds are intended primarily for consumption purposes. They are used to improve education, health and housing conditions and only a frac­tion is channelled directly into pro­ductive investment.

The study underlines the magnitude of the volume of funds transferred, examines the obstacles hampering remittances and proposes courses of action aimed at maximising their impact on the financing of the economies of the Mediterranean partner countries.

FEMIP, the European Investment Bank’s dedicated facility for the Mediterranean, has produced a summary sheet of the in-depth analysis of financial flows from Mediterranean migrants working in Europe.

FEMIP finance contracts in Mediterranean Partner Countries

Finance contracts worth 6,957,707,957 euros were signed between FEMIP and Mediterranean Partner Countries in the last five years, according to the latest figures from the European Investment Bank. A country-by-country breakdown, updated today, is available on the Bank’s website.

Algeria 255,498,958
Egypt 2,067,312,240
Palestine 55,000,000
Israel 395,000,000
Jordan 215,896,759
Lebanon 575,000,000
Morocco 1,221,000,000
Syria 715,000,000
Tunisia 1,379,950,000

Regional - North Africa 10,000,000

Mediterranean Countries 68,050,000