Morocco’s Green Hydrogen Strategy: A Regional Model for Energy Transition in North Africa

Abstract

Research Idea: This research provides an analytical examination of Morocco’s green hydrogen strategy, highlighting a central tension within national policy. On one hand, the state seeks to attract substantial foreign investment, which serves as the principal driving force behind this ambitious strategy. On the other hand, the approach requires safeguarding the country’s energy and economic sovereignty. Objectives: The research aims to clarify how Morocco’s legal and strategic frameworks have been shaped in ways that primarily facilitate the country’s integration into global markets as a key supplier of green energy, while placing comparatively less emphasis on developing a sovereign domestic energy market. It also evaluates the economic, social, environmental, and technological dimensions of the strategy, dimensions that often reinforce external interests, whereas Morocco’s gains remain modest in terms of employment, clean-energy uptake, investment inflows, and the development of technological capabilities. Methods: The research employs a mixed-methods approach that integrates qualitative and quantitative analysis, drawing on official legal and strategic documents as well as investment data. Results: The current strategy has significantly facilitated the influx of foreign investment, thereby reproducing dependency patterns by positioning Morocco as a platform for extracting various green resources in service of external interests. At the same time, its capacity to establish integrated national industrial bases and to achieve genuine energy sovereignty remains limited. Conclusion: Green hydrogen represents a major strategic opportunity for Morocco despite persistent structural constraints. Realizing this potential, however, requires a fundamental shift toward a sovereign and equitable development model, one that balances global economic integration with the protection of national interests, rather than perpetuating an extractivist and dependency-driven paradigm. Such a shift would set a new benchmark for emerging economies, enabling developing countries to harness their resources not only to address domestic needs but also to build a strong, innovative, and future-oriented energy economy.