Green Economy: The Tangier Declaration Outlines Fifteen Priorities for African Cities

On July 24–25, 2025, the city of Tangier hosted the Regional Green Economy Forum (RGEF 2025) under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. Organized by the World Green Economy Organization (WGEO), with support from Morocco’s Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development and hosted by the Regional Council of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, in partnership with UCLG Africa, the event established itself as a strategic platform for dialogue, cooperation, and action toward achieving carbon neutrality in African cities.

Held under the theme “Empowering African Cities: Paving the Way to Carbon Neutrality,” the forum brought together over 400 participants representing governments, local authorities, pan-African institutions, cooperation agencies, international organizations, research centers, private sector actors, civil society, youth leaders, and technical experts, fostering a spirit of collaboration and co-creation.

Featuring 29 sessions, the program combined high-level plenaries, thematic roundtables, practical workshops, and capacity-building seminars, highlighting strategic and operational levers for a just and inclusive green transition.

A high-level roundtable on the private sector’s role in advancing carbon-neutral African cities convened prominent political, economic, and technical leaders, including Omar Moro (President of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Regional Council), Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer (WGEO), Roger Baro (Burkina Faso), Hakima El Haité (APSCTJ), and Idrissa Nassa (Burkina Faso). The discussion identified concrete financing, governance, and investment mechanisms to support sustainable urban development.

On the sidelines of the forum, Omar Moro and Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, WGEO’s President, held a bilateral meeting to strengthen a strategic partnership for regional and continental green transition. A cooperation agreement was signed, formalizing collaboration between the two institutions and laying the groundwork for joint transformative projects.

The Tangier Declaration 2025: A Collective Commitment

The forum culminated in the adoption of the Tangier Declaration on Accelerating the Green Economy and Carbon Neutrality in African Cities. Through this foundational document, participants pledged support for fifteen key priorities, chief among them accelerating the shift toward carbon-neutral African cities.

This objective is to be fully integrated into urban development plans and local climate strategies, aligned with updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and grounded in a shared vision of a green, inclusive, and resilient economy.

The declaration also calls for innovative and inclusive public-private partnerships, mobilizing private sector investments in strategic areas: renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable solid waste management, climate-smart agriculture, water reuse, clean mobility, digital solutions for urban sustainability, and green building practices.

Integration of nature-based solutions—such as urban reforestation and coastal protection—was emphasized as a cornerstone of carbon-neutral city planning.

Finally, signatories agreed to establish a transparent monitoring, reporting, evaluation, and learning mechanism, based on harmonized and measurable indicators. This framework will track progress, inform evidence-based policymaking, facilitate annual peer reviews, and strengthen regional cooperation, knowledge-sharing, and collective accountability.

The event concluded with the solemn reading of a pledge of allegiance to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, reaffirming unwavering commitment to the royal vision for sustainable development in Morocco and across the African continent.