On November 2016 world leaders gathered for the COP22 in Marrakech to present their commitments to fighting climate change. Beside global political leaders, capital market leaders and investors from around the world came together to discuss how regulators, stock exchanges and investors can promote the growing area of green finance, particularly in developing countries.

As a side event to the COP22, AMMC organized a conference on « fostering green capital markets in the south» on November 16^th 2016, jointly with the Casablanca Stock Exchange, the Moroccan central securities depository (Maroclear), and the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative.

The two key objectives of the conference were to understand, share and discuss the global trends within the capital market, particularly the role of stock exchanges and regulators in promoting green finance for the economic transition already started; but also to explore ways of working together in building up the right approaches to support the development of such area.

As for the main conclusions of the Conference, they were positive and highlighted an awareness and commitment to play a role in greening capital markets globally and in the South in particular.

The conference’s main topics and conclusions were:

• The need to consider Implications of the transition underway to a low carbon economy globally for Capital markets, investors and issuers alike.
• That Stock exchanges and regulators play an important role in the transition to a green economy.
• The extremely positive momentum from the South where younger and smaller exchanges have been able to have a significant impact. A progress to learn from.
• The importance of building on the success of both COP21 and COP22 to ensure that environmental and climate issues are part of financial decision-making processes and that more investments are driven towards sustainable patterns.
• The crucial role of Stock exchanges in climate-related projects insuring that funding is raised in a transparent way.
• The necessity to link the capital depth in the north with the climate needs of the South.
• The necessity to align the expectations of green project developers and investors in a volatile environment.
• In today’s historic low rates environment, renewable energies, improved energy, water and waste management efficiency, provide investors with the opportunity to do good for the planet while improving their returns.