SHARM EL-SHEIKH – UNIDO Director General, Gerd Müller, took part in the “Investing in the Future of Energy: Green Hydrogen” high-level roundtable at COP27, co-chaired by Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of Arab Republic of Egypt, and Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany.

The roundtable focused on ways to enhance investments in the field of green hydrogen to confront climate change and activate the role of the private sector.

In his opening remarks, President El-Sisi stressed, “Green hydrogen represents a real opportunity for economic development that is compatible with efforts to confront climate change and with the Paris Agreement goals.”

In his statement, Chancellor Scholz said “Green hydrogen is the key to decarbonizing our economies, especially for hard-to-electrify sectors such as steel production, the chemical industry, heavy shipping and aviation.”

There was a major announcement with President El-Sisi, and Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium, launching the Global Renewable Hydrogen Forum. The Forum is billed as a multi-stakeholder public-private platform to facilitate the use of renewable hydrogen to foster the decarbonization of industries and accelerate a just transition, and to identify the best instruments to enable the cross-border trade of renewable hydrogen between renewables-rich developing countries and developed countries.

UNIDO’s Gerd Müller welcomed the founding of the Forum, describing it as a global platform to exchange knowledge and technology. He said, “We need it worldwide, not in the European Union. And we need it to define a global framework…UNIDO is the industrial agency and partner for Egypt and Europe to implement this multi-stakeholder platform designed to facilitate large-scale deployments of renewable hydrogen.”

Müller concluded, “Our common goal must be to make sure developing countries and emerging economies have access to the benefits of green hydrogen.”

Members of the Global Renewable Hydrogen Forum will include:

• potential renewable hydrogen producing and/or consuming countries, which will provide policy guidance;
• private sector investors and global industry associations to help shape global market strategies and accelerate implementation of renewable hydrogen projects and certification schemes;
• UNIDO and other UN agencies to support a just energy transition and measurable climate change benefits;
• IRENA and other international agencies, which will provide technical advice and assistance on issues such as certification and policymaking;
• The Green Climate Fund and international financial institutions, which could provide support mechanisms for the implementation of renewable hydrogen projects.

The Forum is expected to hold bi-annual meetings, co-hosted alternately by the two leading countries.