UAE, UK looking into possible green hydrogen collaboration

As part of a joint commitment between the World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO), a Dubai-based worldwide platform that fosters coalitions to allow green economic growth, and Zest Associates, a new research study will investigate possible green hydrogen cooperation between the UAE and the UK.

The research, funded by HSBC, will look at ways for the UAE and the UK to work together to accelerate the development of their respective clean hydrogen sectors.

Business executives, industry groups, legislators, inventors, and academics from both nations will be involved in the study.

“As the UAE and the UK seek to strengthen their trade ties while also encouraging investment and innovation in low-carbon technologies, it is vital that we develop venues for debate and idea exchange that lead to real-world action. This research will support the WGEO’s goal of combining technology, capacity building, and funding to allow and implement bankable and sustainable green projects and programs “Chairman of WGEO, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, stated.

The study report will look at prospects for collaboration and partnerships in the green hydrogen domain between the two nations, with scalable ideas. It will map innovation goals, characterize hydrogen enterprises, and examine how UAE-UK policy and regulatory collaboration might streamline trade, stimulate foreign direct investment, and ensure hydrogen’s low-carbon credentials.

Stakeholder meetings and workshops will be held as part of the report’s research to test and confirm results. In the first half of 2022, there will also be a panel debate on the report’s conclusions.

“HSBC is dedicated to helping lead the transition to net zero,” said Abdulfattah Sharaf, CEO and Head of International at HSBC UAE. “This study will assist increase our knowledge of how hydrogen’s economic and environmental advantages can be embedded into the UAE and UK’s low carbon travels.”

The report’s study is being led by Zest Associates, a Dubai-based sustainability consultant with ties to the UK and experience in green finance, policy, and cleantech innovation.

“Our objective is to demonstrate how the UAE and the UK can go from aspiration to action,” stated Jeffrey Beyer, Managing Director of Zest Associates. “We’re bringing together all of the important actors – large and small – to find collaborative possibilities and demonstrate how collaboration benefits everyone. The research will outline the practical actions that the UAE and the UK can take to establish the circumstances for a thriving clean hydrogen market, as well as pairing corporations and innovators to catalyze clean hydrogen agreements and technology development.”

The report’s release follows previous public remarks aimed at boosting the UK-UAE economic partnership, with an emphasis on cleantech and low-carbon infrastructure, as well as the extension of the UAE-UK New Energy Partnership.

The UK Office for Investment (OfI) and Mubadala Investment Company, based in Abu Dhabi, inked an agreement at Downing Street in September to considerably extend the UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership (UAE-UK SIP), a framework for investment announced in March 2021.

The UAE has agreed to invest $10 billion (US$13 billion) across three sectors: technology, infrastructure, and energy transformation, as well as expanding on its existing life sciences investment program. ADNOC, BP, and Masdar have announced that the UAE-UK New Energy Partnership would be expanded to look at the construction of clean hydrogen hubs in both the UAE and the UK at a size of at least 2 gigawatts (GW), with 1 GW in the UAE and 1 GW in the UK.

The research will also help the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Emissions Strategy 2050, which aim to achieve 100% clean energy production capacity by 2050.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) opened the first solar-driven green hydrogen production facility in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in May 2021, in collaboration with Expo 2020 Dubai and Siemens Energy, with the goal of demonstrating green hydrogen production, storage, and re-electrification.