OECD Report: Morocco Among Low Carbon Emitters in Emerging Economies Study

The report titled "Taxing Energy Use for Sustainable Development: Opportunities for Energy Tax Reform and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform in Selected Emerging and Developing Economies" analyzed energy taxation in countries such as Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica and Uruguay. After analysis, "none of them are among the major carbon emitters".

The same report indicates that developing countries have the opportunity to raise public revenues that are sorely lacking and at the same time reduce emissions and air pollution by making use of energy taxes and reducing investments in fossil fuels. In this sense, even if revenue capacity varies by country, those that have been analyzed can on average raise the equivalent of nearly 1% of GDP in public revenues if they put a carbon price of 30 euros/tonne of CO2 on fossil fuels.

In the fifteen countries examined, the tax/GDP ratio is barely 19% on average, compared to 34% in the OECD, the report noted, noting that "none of them apply an explicit carbon pricing". Across the fifteen countries studied, 83% of energy-related CO2 emissions are exempt from any taxation. In the 44 OECD and G20 countries covered in the Taxing Energy Use 2019 report, some 70% of these emissions are completely exempt from taxes. This proves that "all countries need to better account for the harmful effects of energy consumption in tax policy".