UNEP U4E and SIE Announce a New Sustainable Public Procurement Collaboration

The United Nations Environment Programme’s United for Efficiency (UNEP U4E) and Société d’Ingénierie Energétique (SIE), the Moroccan state-owned energy services company, are delighted to announce their collaboration to promote sustainable public procurement in Morocco. The potential energy savings of energy efficient cooling appliances stands at 1.1 TWh annually in the country.

The parties will take a cohesive approach to address technical, financial, and regulatory considerations, drawing from U4E’s new Sustainable Public Procurement Toolkit which was initially introduced through regional workshops. Sustainability criteria include robust energy efficiency requirements, and for cooling products like air conditioners or refrigerators, limits on the global warming potential of refrigerants (chemicals used in their operation). U4E’s technical assistance is enabled by funding from the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (UK Defra).

The first public procurement opportunity that has been identified involves performing an upgrade to the energy system of the buildings of a ministry (currently being determined.).

The project will showcase the potential for public entities to better leverage ESCO models. This initial opportunity will serve as an example for future scale-up by SIE in additional applications.

ESCO models allow for renovations without upfront investments by the public facility owner or operator. Energy and other operational and maintenance savings underpin the financing of the project, which, if designed correctly, results in a net positive cash flow from day one after all improvements are completed and commissioned.

This collaboration is a key step toward SIE’s goal to widely support Moroccan public entities in making a transition toward sustainable operations that help achieve national energy and environmental ambitions related to the to the Paris Climate Agreement, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Victor Minguez, U4E’s energy efficiency and financing expert who is leading the technical support, noted, “Sustainable products are a perfect match for ESCO models as they optimize operational savings over their lifetime, enabling renovations to facilities while avoiding the ‘lowest-purchase-price’ trap in public procurement”.

Ahmed Bouzid, SIE’s Head of Energy Efficiency, added, “While SIE has demonstrated ESCO models in Morocco, the timing and conditions are ripe to partner with U4E on integrating world-class sustainability criteria that can be deployed throughout the public sector domestically and to showcase lessons learned to inspire wider uptake, globally.”

UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. UNEP’s U4E team leads market transformation projects on cooling, lighting and equipment with over forty developing and emerging economies. For more information, contact  victor.minguez@un.org.

SIE is the Kingdom of Morocco’s Super ESCO in charge of energy efficiency projects implementation in the country, with priority given to the public building and public lighting sectors. The fundamental principle of its intervention is to support the involvement of private companies by relying, each time possible, on private financing through energy performance contracts.  For more information, contact: ahmed.bouzid@sie.co.ma.