Economic incentives and environmental regulation in selected countries of the Mena region : regulating industry emissions: assessing the Moroccan cement experiences

Abstract EN

This paper analyses the way heavy polluting industries may be regulated in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by examining the case of the cement industry in Morocco.

It suggests some answers to the following research questions.

First, it questions the consequences of cement production on the environment and quantifies the related welfare loss through methodologies of economic valuation.

More particularly, it demonstrates that the cost of regulating the emissions of the cement industry is lower than the benefit it creates.

Secondly, the case of environmental inefficiencies in material and energy inputs is examined in the cement production in order to identify in which circumstances spontaneous action by cement producers could be fostered.

Thirdly, the paper examines the whole set of instruments that could be used by the regulator to reduce the environmental consequences of cement production and presents for each one some of its applications in the MENA region and the cement sector.

It proposes an in-depth analysis of the voluntary agreements used in Morocco.

It presents a set of criteria that constitutes the basis for choosing the best instrument in each situation (economic efficiency, environmental effectiveness, the way the instrument deals with uncertainties, equity, the economic cost or the impact of the instruments on competitiveness, the way the instruments deal with imperfect competition, the influence of political behavior, applicability and acceptability).

Finally, a multi criteria framework is built in order to identify a possible strategy for regulating the emissions of the cement sector.

Its main conclusion is to formulate a global strategy which proposes criteria that set rules for trading-off environmental and economic objectives.