HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Chairman of the World Inexperienced Financial system Group (WGEO), delivered the opening keynote on the first version of the Regional Inexperienced Financial system Discussion board (RGEF) 2025 on carbon impartial cities, held below the theme “Empowering African Cities: Paving the Path to Carbon Neutrality” in Tangier, Morocco, below the Excessive Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco.
In his keynote handle, HE Al Tayer mentioned: “ I want to categorical our honest thanks and profound gratitude to His Majesty, King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, who honoured the Discussion board along with his Excessive Patronage, embodying via his enlightened imaginative and prescient the pioneering position of the Kingdom of Morocco in main the worldwide transition in direction of a sustainable inexperienced economic system that achieves prosperity and well-being for the folks of the Earth and for future generations. It offers me nice pleasure to welcome you to this Discussion board. I lengthen my honest appreciation to the host nation, the Kingdom of Morocco, and the colourful metropolis of Tangier for his or her steadfast dedication to sustainable improvement and local weather motion.”
The opening ceremony featured speeches by HE Leila Benali, Minister of Power Transition and Sustainable Growth, Kingdom of Morocco; HE Omar Moro, President of the Council of Tangier Tetouan Al-Hoceima Area (CRTTA);HE Younes Tazi, Wali of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Area, Governor of the Tangier- Tetouan-Al Hoceima; Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary Basic of United Cities and Native Governments of Africa (UCLG-AFRICA); HE Nathalie Fustier, Resident Coordinator, United Nations, Kingdom of Morocco; James Grabert, Director, Mitigation Division, UNFCCC; and HE Mounir Laymouri, Mayor of Tangier, and President of the Moroccan Affiliation of Presidents of Municipal Councils.
The discussion board, hosted over two days, welcomed high-level participation from ministers, mayors, youth leaders, entrepreneurs, and consultants from throughout Africa and the globe to discover sensible and sustainable pathways to realize carbon neutrality in African cities.
HE Al Tayer highlighted the lead of the United Arab Emirates in championing worldwide cooperation on local weather motion: “The UAE management of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has emphasised the utmost significance of worldwide collaboration to handle local weather challenges.
He additionally expressed appreciation to the occasion’s strategic companions—the Ministry of Power Transition and Sustainable Growth of Morocco, the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Regional Council, and United Cities and Native Governments of Africa (UCLG-Africa)—for his or her invaluable partnership in advancing sustainable city improvement throughout the continent.
HE Al Tayer emphasised that this 12 months’s discussion board comes at a vital second, stating: “Local weather change is not a distant risk—it’s a current actuality. African cities are on the frontlines, confronting rising temperatures, water shortage, and environmental degradation. Nonetheless, inside this problem lies a unprecedented alternative. Cities are usually not solely weak; they’re important engines of constructive transformation.”
HE famous that via the World Alliance on Inexperienced Financial system (GAGE), which unites over 90 nations, WGEO has created a dynamic platform for inclusive, inexperienced, and resilient progress, with Africa serving as a cornerstone of this alliance.
In collaboration with UCLG-Africa, WGEO’s Cities Carbon Impartial Initiative goals to empower African cities to guide the transition towards low-carbon, climate-resilient city environments. “This discussion board is greater than a milestone—it’s a springboard for motion,” he added.
HE Al Tayer outlined the discussion board’s collective mission, which incorporates equipping native governments with the instruments and sources wanted to plan, finance, and implement sustainable options; selling African management in renewable vitality, sensible mobility, inexperienced buildings, and round economic system practices; fostering collaboration between governments, the non-public sector, academia, youth, and civil society; and mobilising innovation to remodel carbon neutrality from aspiration into implementation.
He additional emphasised that the discussion board aligns with the UAE Consensus outcomes of COP28 and the outcomes of COP29 and performs a pivotal position in shaping the World Inexperienced Financial system Summit 2025, to be held in Dubai, UAE, this October. The discussion board will instantly contribute to shaping Africa’s city roadmap on the worldwide local weather agenda.
HE Al Tayer reaffirmed WGEO’s dedication to inclusive dialogue: “We’re decided to make sure that each metropolis, area, and voice is concerned in shaping our shared future. Our theme requires transcending typical approaches and constructing equitable, sustainable cities by enhancing native capacities to design bankable inexperienced tasks; scaling profitable fashions in photo voltaic vitality, sustainable mobility, and waste-to-energy; fostering inclusive public-private partnerships; partaking youth and communities to make sure bottom-up transformation; and constructing a community of African cities and world companions dedicated to local weather justice and shared prosperity.”
In conclusion, HE Al Tayer known as on individuals to work collectively over the two-day discussion board alongside ministers, mayors, entrepreneurs, youth, and concrete improvement consultants to co-create concepts and options that may form the cities of tomorrow.
“Allow us to seize this chance to maneuver from dialogue to actual motion,” he concluded. “Let this discussion board be remembered not just for its dialogue, but additionally for the partnerships it fostered and the impactful options it launched throughout the African continent,” HE concluded.
HE Leila Benali emphasised that the accession of the Kingdom of Morocco to the World Alliance for Inexperienced Financial system (GAGE) in November 2023 displays its strategic dedication to a good, inclusive, and sustainable improvement mannequin. She additionally acknowledged the pioneering position of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Regional Council and the United Cities and Native Governments of Africa (UCLG-Africa) in advancing the sustainability agenda on the native degree.
Benali confused that transitioning to a inexperienced economic system is not a developmental choice, but additionally a obligatory and strategic crucial to handle the rising local weather and developmental challenges dealing with the continent.
She reaffirmed the dedication to implementing and updating the Nationwide Technique for Sustainable Growth according to its New Growth Mannequin and worldwide agreements, with the aim of constructing a inexperienced, inclusive economic system by 2035.
Benali known as for higher alternate of information and finest practices amongst African cities as a lift for innovation and carbon neutrality. She emphasised that, regardless of its challenges, Africa has all the mandatory property to develop into a world hub for local weather options—due to its considerable pure sources, human capital, visionary management, and impressive youth.
HE Omar Moro, President of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Regional Council, affirmed that the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima area, as a strategic bridge between Africa and Europe, aspires to guide by instance in inexperienced transformation by selling funding in renewable vitality and enhancing environmental consciousness. He additionally introduced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with WGEO, marking the start of a sturdy partnership centered on inexperienced city improvement and progressive local weather finance.
He concluded by reiterating the Council’s full dedication to implementing the discussion board’s outcomes and contributing to sensible, action-oriented initiatives that assist construct greener, fairer, and extra resilient cities.
As a part of the Discussion board, Al Tayer opened the proceedings of the Excessive-Degree African Mayors’ Roundtable on: Advancing Carbon Impartial Cities in Africa.
In his opening handle, he affirmed WGEO dedication to supporting African cities of their transition in direction of a inexperienced economic system via the “Carbon Impartial Cities Initiative” launched in Dubai, UAE.
“From Tangier to Cairo, allow us to amplify a robust message: African cities are usually not simply dealing with the local weather disaster; they’re main the options,” he concluded.
In his welcome remarks on the Youth Roundtable, held as a part of the Discussion board actions below the theme ‘Mentoring the Future – Nurturing Younger Leaders for a Sustainable World,’ HE Al Tayer emphasised the central position of the youth and that youth leaders are lively companions right now, not tomorrow.
HE welcomed younger leaders as important contributors, stressing that their concepts and energies are central to the transition towards a inexperienced economic system. He warned of the implications of unbalanced progress, manifested in local weather change and biodiversity loss. He clarified that the inexperienced economic system requires a basic transformation in considering and existence, counting on the braveness and management of youth.