On 28 September 2023, the second Berlin Dialogue Forum on Green Hydrogen (GH2) took place at the Fraunhofer-ENIQ in Berlin. The forum’s guiding theme was „Building a Global Hydrogen Economy in Partnerships“.
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In the HYPAT project, IDOS has taken the position from the beginning (2021) in research and policy advice that the implementation of H2 strategies can succeed with the involvement of solar and wind energy-rich countries of the Global South. However, the interests of the Global South must be understood and implemented through supporting measures. How this can be done and what role German and European policy should take was discussed at the dialogue forum. Hildegard Bentele from the European Parliament and Till Mansmann, Innovation Officer Green Hydrogen of BMBF, explained the very ambitious H2 policies of the EU and the German government. Both agreed that the anticipated very high H2 demand of European industry cannot be met regionally, even if the ambitious targets for European electrolysis capacities are met. Imports from different regions of the world will have to cover a significant part of the demand. Silvio Heimann, H2 pioneer entrepreneur from Costa Rica, however, made it clear that there are still many technical and economic imponderables for the Central American country that must be overcome in order to engage in large-scale GH2 exports. The country is therefore first trying to develop its H2 potentials to decarbonise domestic industry and transport. The event once again underlined: a sustainable partnership only works if the interests of all partners are taken into account and promoted.
Read also: Blue or green? With which H2 can a global hydrogen economy be constructed?
