The king’s speeches: environmental sustainability as a discursive legitimation project in autocracies. Evidence from Morocco.

The hydrocarbon wealth and rentier economies of West Asian and North African countries long defined the perception of regime durability of the region. While the age of oil and gas is not over, the reality of the climate crisis hit a region deeply shaped by hydrocarbon revenues. Diversification strategies and adaptation to the region’s strong vulnerabilities to climate change effects have come into the limelight of international political and scientific debates. Within this momentum, the Kingdom of Morocco successfully positioned itself as a regional pioneer in embracing the shift to renewable energy resources and environmental preservation, a move that paid in praise from international partners and phenomenal scores in sustainability rankings: “Sustainability” has become a recognition feature of Moroccan domestic and foreign policy narratives, despite the immense obstacles that the country faces in its implementation. Using in-depth discourse analysis of the Moroccan monarch’s speeches on matters of climate change, environmentalism, and sustainability between 2007 and 2023, we dissect the regime’s efforts to fabricate this narrative of sustainability. Contributing to a greater understanding of positive framing as legitimation attempts in autocracies, we analyse the rhetorical use of “environmental sustainability” as a tool for legitimation and international integration of an authoritarian regime.