Germany partners with UAE to develop green hydrogen, synthetic fuels

Germany and the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement to jointly develop hydrogen and synthetic fuels. “The United Arab Emirates has great potential for renewable energies and is thus a very good partner for cooperation in the field of hydrogen and hydrogen technologies." said state secretary of the BMWi Andreas Feicht. He and his counterpart Suhail Al Mazrouei have signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a taskforce aimed at implementing concrete projects and achieving a common understanding of the necessary framework conditions for establishing and scaling green hydrogen production. 

Germany signed a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia earlier this year. In June 2020, the German government published its National Hydrogen Strategy. The country plans to use hydrogen as a key element in its energy transition and especially in sectors (industry, transport) where greenhouse gas emissions are otherwise difficult to reduce. In the strategy, the German government identifies a demand of 90-110 terawatt-hours of climate-neutral hydrogen by 2030, a high proportion of which will have to be imported.