« Swap » : Reformer l’appui au gaz butane pour investir dans le solaire au Maroc

The document analyzes the financial and social implications of Morocco's butane gas subsidies, which cost approximately USD 967 million in 2017. It proposes a 'swap' strategy to transition from fossil fuel subsidies to investments in solar energy to mitigate the impact on low-income households and small farmers while meeting Paris Agreement goals.

• Butane gas subsidies represent a significant financial burden for the Moroccan government, totaling approximately USD 967 million in 2017, which accounted for 3.9% of the general budget for that year.
• The butane gas subsidy is the only remaining fossil fuel subsidy in Morocco following a series of 'decompensation' reforms since 2014 that eliminated subsidies for gasoline, industrial fuels, and diesel.
• Low-income households and small farmers are the most vulnerable to price increases; for small farmers, fuel costs can represent up to 40% of operating expenses.
• The report proposes a 'swap' model to reduce hydrocarbon subsidies and reinvest savings into clean technologies, specifically solar pumping for the agricultural sector and solar water heaters for residential use.
• Solar pumping is internationally cost-competitive with butane pumping, with costs of USD 0.043 per m3 compared to USD 0.042 per m3 for butane.
• Morocco's national solar pumping program, launched in 2013 with a MAD 400 million envelope, has faced implementation delays due to technical-financial issues and concerns over potential groundwater over-extraction.
• The 'Shemsi' program aims to increase the national stock of solar water heaters to 1.35 million m2 by 2020, but it is currently stalled awaiting the signature of a program contract.
• To prevent social unrest and deforestation (caused by a return to biomass), the government is developing a Unified Social Registry (RSU) to target subsidies to the most needy populations, expected to be ready in 2019.
• A complete reform of butane subsidies by 2020 instead of 2030 could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 0.2% and save 1.62 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in total.

APA

Zinecker, A., Gagnon-Lebrun, F., Touchette, Y., Temmam, M., Boussetta, M., Driss, A. B., & Mhaouel, I. (2018). « Swap » : Reformer l’appui au gaz butane pour investir dans le solaire au Maroc. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/swap-morocco-fr.pdf

Chicago

Zinecker, Anna, Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun, Yanick Touchette, Mounir Temmam, Mounira Boussetta, Andalus Ben Driss, and Ikram Mhaouel. « Swap » : Reformer l’appui au gaz butane pour investir dans le solaire au Maroc. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2018. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/swap-morocco-fr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Zinecker |first1=Anna |last2=Gagnon-Lebrun |first2=Frédéric |last3=Touchette |first3=Yanick |last4=Temmam |first4=Mounir |last5=Boussetta |first5=Mounira |last6=Driss |first6=Andalus Ben |last7=Mhaouel |first7=Ikram |title=« Swap » : Reformer l’appui au gaz butane pour investir dans le solaire au Maroc |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=December 2018 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/swap-morocco-fr.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{zinecker2018swap, author = {Zinecker, Anna and Gagnon-Lebrun, Frédéric and Touchette, Yanick and Temmam, Mounir and Boussetta, Mounira and Driss, Andalus Ben and Mhaouel, Ikram}, title = {{« Swap » : Reformer l’appui au gaz butane pour investir dans le solaire au Maroc}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/swap-morocco-fr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }