From Disclosure to Supervision: Strengthening ESG Reporting in Morocco’s Capital Market
Morocco’s Capital Market Authority (AMMC) has taken a phased approach to strengthening ESG reporting in the capital market. With support from IFC, AMMC moved from voluntary guidance and mandatory disclosure requirements toward a more structured supervisory model, using an ESG reporting assessment tool to strengthen the quality, consistency, and comparability of issuer disclosures. This approach strengthened the data foundation needed for sustainable finance by improving how ESG information is reported, reviewed, and used to inform future regulatory development.
The Challenge
As Morocco’s sustainable finance market developed, investors, regulators, and market participants increasingly required ESG information that was reliable, comparable, and meaningful for decision-making. However, ESG reporting quality varied significantly across issuers, limiting the ability to assess sustainability performance consistently across the market.
AMMC had already introduced voluntary guidance and later mandatory ESG disclosure requirements. The next challenge was to move beyond disclosure as a compliance exercise and strengthen the quality, consistency, and practical usefulness of ESG reporting in line with international good practices and local market realities.
Strategic Approach
AMMC adopted a progressive approach to strengthen ESG reporting supervision in Morocco’s capital market. In 2017, AMMC issued guidelines promoting voluntary sustainability reporting, along with ESG disclosure good practices for issuers. In 2019, this evolved into mandatory ESG reporting requirements, marking the transition toward a formal disclosure framework for issuers. To strengthen implementation and supervisory capacity, AMMC partnered with IFC in 2021 to launch an ESG reporting assessment project to evaluate issuers’ compliance with the ESG reporting requirements and the quality of ESG disclosures. The core innovation was a structured 55-criteria assessment tool which enabled AMMC to identify strong and weak issuer reporting practices, compare disclosures across issuers, and monitor reporting improvements over time.
AMMC also organized capacity-building workshops to strengthen internal supervisory expertise and improve the systematic review of ESG reports. This helped supervisory teams to engage more effectively with issuers and provide targeted recommendations to improve reporting practices. By 2024, AMMC used assessment findings to engage market participants on the evolution of Morocco’s ESG reporting framework, creating a feedback loop between issuer disclosures, supervisory review, market engagement, and regulatory development.
In 2025, AMMC further integrated ESG reporting assessment into its sustainable finance priorities, confirming that the methodology had evolved into an integral part of its ongoing supervisory approach rather than a one-off project.
Outcomes and Impact
The AMMC-IFC assessment tool helped Morocco move from mandatory ESG disclosure toward more active and evidence-based supervision. Rather than focusing only on whether issuers submitted ESG reports, AMMC gained a practical mechanism to assess the quality, completeness, and comparability of disclosed information. The tool also enabled AMMC to benchmark issuer practices more systematically and provide targeted supervisory feedback. The project strengthened AMMC’s internal capacity to review ESG reports, identify reporting gaps, and engage issuers on areas for improvement. It also provided a clearer market-wide picture of ESG reporting practices, supporting more targeted guidance and future regulatory development. By applying the assessment framework over time, AMMC was able to monitor improvements in issuer reporting practices and strengthen market dialogue around ESG disclosure quality.
Lessons Learned
Morocco’s experience demonstrates that mandatory ESG disclosure requirements alone are not sufficient to develop effective sustainable finance markets. Regulators also need practical supervisory tools, internal technical capacity, and ongoing engagement with issuers to improve reporting quality and comparability. The AMMC-IFC assessment tool helped transform ESG reporting from a compliance exercise into a more structured supervisory process, strengthening the foundation for sustainable finance regulation and market transparency.
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