The World Environment Center, Rio And U.S. Department Of State Launch Green Industries Partnerships In Morocco
Casablanca, Morocco, May 22, 2013 /3BL Media/ - The World Environment Center (WEC) has today launched an innovative project to expand the sustainable development commitments of Moroccan businesses by reducing energy and water consumption, minimizing waste and raw material usage and lowering operating costs. WEC is partnering with the Moroccan firm RIO (Reduce, Invent, Optimize) to implement the local activities and provide advanced technical expertise for the project. The partnership is funded by the United States Department of State through its “Cleaner Production and Environmental Technologies Private Sector Partnerships” program. This is the fourth partnership of its kind, second in Morocco, spanning six countries, between the U.S. Department of State and WEC.
The overall objectives of the partnership are to enhance sustainable development practices, reduce environmental and societal impact of business operations upon local communities and the global biosphere, improve their environmental, health and safety performance, and grow the businesses through more efficient practices and technologies. WEC has been implementing Cleaner Production Private Sector Partnerships in Morocco since 2010 and, through this current initiative, is continuing to collaborate with local industry associations, primarily the Moroccan food processing association, FENAGRI (Fédération Nationale de l'Agroalimentaire), the textile industry association, AMITH (L’Association Marocaine des Industriels du Textile et de l’Habillement) and the collective zone, CoZInE (Collectif des Zones Industrielles pour l’Environnement).
The WEC-RIO team will identify opportunities for improvement in production processes of the participating businesses, create a plan to achieve measurable goals based on these opportunities, and work with local university students to train them on-site in advanced process and production techniques. The youth engagement will establish a network between the participating SMEs in need of talent and the students.
Dr. Terry F. Yosie, WEC’s President and CEO, commended the project for its combination of sustainable development goals with business-focused improvements. “Incentives to find greater efficiencies in business operations and to minimize the use of natural resources and the generation of waste create an economically virtuous circle,” he stated. “Leadership in sustainable development is found through practical business solutions that improve the daily lives of citizens in communities around the world.”
About World Environment Center
WEC is an independent, global non-profit, non-advocacy organization that advances sustainable development through the business practices and operations of its member companies and in partnership with governments, multi-lateral organizations, non-governmental organizations, universities and other stakeholders. WEC’s mission is to promote business and societal value by advancing solutions to sustainable development-related problems. It manages projects for companies across their global operations, builds executive level learning and competency in applying sustainable development across a number of business sectors, and recognizes performance excellence through an annual awards program. WEC is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with regional offices in China, El Salvador and Germany.
About RIO
RIO is a Moroccan company located in Casablanca that provides turnkey services for environment- and energy efficiency-related projects. Its fields of operation cover the industrial sector, buildings, agriculture and transportation. RIO helps its clients upstream through eco-design and downstream through simplified or detailed diagnoses, measurements and assistance in the implementation of action plans to reduce energy costs and monitoring of savings over the long term. Since its inception in 2006, RIO has completed over 150 energy efficiency projects for public and private clients operating in various sectors.
