Highlights

Lead Organization

CMI

Partners

World Bank, Mediterranean Observatory of Energy (OME), Mediterranean Association of the National Agencies for Energy Conservation (MEDENER)

Rationale

Given its geographic position, the Mediterranean region plays a key role in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, as we move on from Conference of Parties 21 (COP21) to Conference of Parties 22 (COP22). Indeed, the Mediterranean is a veritable microcosm of the COP challenges. Nowhere else in the world gathers so many developing countries in such close geographical proximity to so many developed ones, with about ten percent of the world’s countries clustered together around that narrow sea. The Mediterranean is a hub between Europe, which has positioned itself as a champion in the fight against climate change, and Africa, where the challenges are the toughest to implement the Paris Agreement and which will be at the centre of the discussions at COP22 in Marrakech.

The countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean sea have a vast renewable energy potential, which is sufficient to meet the needs of both northern and southern countries in their search for a low carbon path, if the electricity systems of the two shores are better integrated.

Context

For its participation in the Mediterranean Conference of Parties (MEDCOP22) in Tangier, Morocco, the CMI is organizing a debate gathering a multitude of actors from different horizons to address the necessary actions within the Mediterranean region to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

The main focus of the discussion will be the implementation of concrete projects, such as electricity interconnections to support free electricity trade and solar power plants and wind farms to produce the zero carbon electricity necessary to feed economic growth without harming the climate.

Objectives

This debate falls in line with series of discussions on the importance of an integrated Mediterranean energy market in delivering the Paris agreement and aims at swaying the discussion toward the following issues.

• Coordination of energy and climate policies in Europe and all around the Mediterranean, to facilitate the implementation of the Paris Agreement
• Mediterranean integration as a way to support large scale renewable energy integration into power grids
• Removal of barriers to free electricity exchanges between the North and the South and between southern countries
• Interconnection investment needs to support large scale deployment of renewable energy in the southern shore countries
• Social and economic benefits of Mediterranean energy integration (new industrial activities, jobs, R&D, etc.)

Logistics

• MEDCOP Climat  website: www.medcopclimat.com 
• Register here: http://www.medcop-registration.com