Excellencies, dear participants and guests,

Thank you for the invitation to speak here about promoting green hydrogen in Egypt.  A sustainable clean transition will provide everyone with abundant and affordable clean energy, and also with energy security.

Green hydrogen is promising to end the dependence on an unreliable energy supply. That is why in the EU we target to produce annually ten million tons of renewable hydrogen. And we shall also import another 10 million tons from abroad. This can replace up to 50 billion cubic metres per year of imported gas.

In order to reach these goals we need to invest and strengthen the industrial base and establish a more transparent, investment-driven, and innovation-friendly eco-system, which is precisely what investors are looking closely at in the different markets.

Climate action in energy including hydrogen is a key priority in our cooperation with partner countries. We are working with Egypt and a large number of countries on that topic in real partnerships.  We signed the Green Hydrogen Partnership with Egypt in November 2022 at COP 27. We are witnessing real and concrete steps by the government to pursue this partnership.

The Egyptian Green Hydrogen Council has just been successfully established. The EU has set aside funds to support the Council implementing its strategy, once the Egyptian Hydrogen Strategy has been formally adopted.

The number of MoUs signed between Egypt and International Investors in the field of Renewable Energy Generation and Green Hydrogen Production confirms the potential that Egypt has set in motion.

The EU has substantial experience to share and has the means to help, as the world’s biggest climate financier, providing along with our Member States over 40% of the world’s public climate finance. We are using Technical Assistance, Investment grants, capacity building as well as guarantees to reduce risks and leverage private investments in different countries.

As we want to deliver a Green Deal for Europe, making the EU the leading example for a just and sustainable transition, we believe we must have the credibility to bring others along to do the same. And then we can really make a difference to the future of our planet.

Clean hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources will be an asset for Egypt. Low-carbon hydrogen can be part of the transition, but only renewable hydrogen will bring us to climate neutrality and energy security.