By Dr. Susana Val, ZLC Director, and Dr. Beatriz Royo, ZLC Associate Professor.
The Kingdom of Morocco recognizes that achieving the economic growth necessary to generate more and better employment opportunities depends on its alignment with international expectations for ‘green’ and sustainable development. This, in turn, highlights the need for an expanded provision of technical vocational education and training (TVET) in relevant fields.
Tamheen is the Kingdom’s ambitious programme for TVET. As an element within Tamheen, the need was identified for vocational level training in climate change, carbon emission assessment and possible mitigation strategies and actions in the context of logistics activities for all relevant students, apprentices and trainees – future supply chain managers, traffic controllers and so on.
The Kingdom, with the support of the German Government through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), commissioned ZLC to create modules for a suitable training course and, crucially, also for a ‘train the trainers’ programme. These modules were developed in close collaboration with the Office de la Formation Professionnelle et de la Promotion du Travail (OFPPT), the main implementing partner of the Tamheen project. Designed specifically to meet the needs of OFPPT, the training and trainer programmes will be delivered in its training centers to ensure alignment with its objectives and the broader goals of the project.
It is of course vital that the methods used to calculate and report carbon footprints by organisations in countries such as Morocco should be recognised as valid by international partners. The training modules are therefore centred around the Framework for Logistics Emissions Methodologies which has been developed over the past decade by GLEC, the Global Logistics Emissions Council and also ISO14083 on emissions accounting in transport chains.
The first module raises awareness of climate change and the contribution of the logistics sector. The key concepts, standards and protocols including ISO Standards and the GLEC Framework are introduced, and a wide view taken on issues related to data collection, quality assessment, tools and resources.
In the second module trainees will deepen their knowledge related to climate change policies, the operation of the GLEC Framework and the use of the emissions Calculator. (This integrates over 350 emissions factors in a Moroccan context but of general applicability across economic sectors). They will gain a deep understanding of the requirements of greenhouse gas inventory verification, and the implementation of ISO Standards will be explored through worked examples. Trainees will be shown how GLEC can support companies in implementing or achieving ISO Standards.
The third module looks at how this learning can be used in the development of sustainability strategies across freight transportation but specifically in the dominant mode of road transport. They will understand the strategic risks and opportunities arising from a changing environment that may affect their ability to do business, and explore possible mitigation and decarbonisation strategies such as reductions in transport use, optimising load factors, using lower carbon transport modes or changing fuel/energy sources, and shown how to create roadmaps for strategy implementation. They will also be helped to understand their personal obligations in ensuring that their businesses remain compliant.
To ‘train the trainers’ the latter will of course be taken through these modules (and be tested on them), but they will also be given practical exercises illustrating how to prepare lessons and devise materials and examples suitable for different types of students from different industries and backgrounds.
Completed earlier in 2024 these materials were created in English and French, although the training itself will be delivered in French. By the end of 2024, over 70 trainees had already successfully participated.
For more information please contact Susana Val, ZLC Director, at [email protected]
