The United Arab Emirates announced its goal of becoming one of the world’s leading developers of renewables and a central trading junction at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week( ADSW) last week.
To achieve this, it aims to produce 100 gigawatts of green energy by 2030, 25 f of which will be used for creating ‘green hydrogen.’
Here are some essential questions to consider:
Why is green hydrogen?
Hydrogen is produced with coal and gas and used to make steel, aluminum, and ammonia. These sectors are difficult to electrify directly. Hence green hydrogen needs to be developed using wind and solar power.
Green hydrogen is described as the ” swiss army knife “and has been introduced in many applications. It is important to note that green hydrogen has yet to exist commercially.
Why would petrostate incest in non-fossil infrastructure?
The UAE plans to produce 1m tonnes by 2030, making it an essential regional partner. On 13 January, Masdar, the country’s leading clean energy company, and the Port of Amsterdam signed a memorandum of understanding for exploring a green hydrogen supply chain connecting the gulf states to Europe.
But, UAE’s department of energy has stated that it aims to become a central hub connecting “the West and the East and the North and the South.”
Why could this be a problem?
The UAE is the first petrostate in the Middle East to set a net-zero target for 2050, but it still needs to be clarified.
The UAE insists it can expand oil production while exporting renewables and green hydrogen. Apart from this, green hydrogen is needed to mitigate as green hydrogen can be affected by the lack of technical and commercial standards due to the complexity of the global supply chains.
Apart from that, the UAE’s green hydrogen vision imitates many of the worst practices of the fossil fuel supply chains.
The report shows that the United Arab Emirates hosts the current year’s UN Climate Summit and aims to become a global junction for green hydrogen. The United Arab Emirates is all set to make green hydrogen a renewable energy source in the coming years, which will be helpful as a sustainable energy source.
