UTICA Calls for the Creation of an Industrial Decarbonization Observatory
The President of the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade, and Handicrafts (UTICA), Samir Majoul, called on Monday for the creation of an Observatory of Decarbonization, which will be the result of a UTICA-Government partnership.
In his opening speech, the President of UTICA Tunisia highlighted that this workshop represents an important step for collective reflection on one of the greatest challenges the world is facing today, namely climate change and the effective strategies it requires to eliminate carbon.
This partnership is with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Tunisian Chemical Society, considering that addressing climate change requires a collective mobilization based on innovation and harmony between the different parties.
He also explained that the intense participation in this meeting reflects the growing collective awareness of the need to a low-carbon economy, in light of unprecedented environmental transformations, in which the climate crisis is no longer a theoretical or postponed issue, but rather a tangible reality that has repercussions on resources, infrastructure, economy, and future generations.
Majoul emphasized that decarbonization is no longer an option, but has become an inevitable necessity dictated by Tunisia's international commitments, particularly within the framework of the Paris Agreement and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which aims to reduce by 45% by 2030, noting that achieving this goal requires the mobilization of funds estimated at around $19.4 billion during the period 2021-2030.
The President of UTICA considered that this climate challenge represents at the same time a historic opportunity to modernize the production system, strengthen competitiveness, and open up new horizons to markets, enabling the Tunisian private sector to play an active role in the economy of the future, through a clean energy system based on renewable energies, indicating that Tunisian institutions, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, face three main challenges in the decarbonization process:
- Financing: the economy of $14.4 billion represents a significant burden on the national economic fabric.
- Technological challenge: the result of the high cost of initial investment and the difficulty of accessing adapted financing solutions.
- Legislative and competitive challenge: The European Union is preparing to establish a "carbon border adjustment mechanism" starting from 2026, with the price of a ton of carbon reaching around €80, making decarbonization necessary to survive in global markets.
The President of UTICA called for a comprehensive approach that strengthens the partnership between the private sector and university and scientific communities, highlighting the importance of investing in clean technologies, qualifying human resources, exchanging experiences, and developing mechanisms for accompaniment and supervision, emphasizing that this workshop represents an opportunity to strengthen dialogue between industrialists, researchers, students, organizers, and partners, including helping to formulate practical solutions that are consistent with the Tunisian context.
In this context, Mr. Samir Majoul presented a set of practical proposals that the Union considers as tools to activate the transition to a low-carbon economy, which are:
- Establishing a national observatory of industrial decarbonization within the framework of a partnership between UTICA and the government.
- Launching a national awareness and training program for small and medium-sized enterprises to ensure a comprehensive energy transition.
- Developing a national green financing platform for Tunisian institutions to facilitate access to necessary financial resources.
- Creating a national center of expertise in carbon accounting to create local skills and reduce dependence on foreign expertise.
The President of UTICA concluded his intervention by emphasizing that the success of this environmental transition requires cooperation between all parties, innovation, adaptation of legislative frameworks, training, and accompaniment of institutions in the different stages of transformation.
