The UAE, represented by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, announced at the ongoing COP26 in Glasgow on Thursday, November 4, the Hydrogen Leadership Roadmap, local reports have said.
The roadmap is said to be a comprehensive national blueprint to support domestic, low-carbon industries, contribute to the country’s net-zero ambition, and establish the country as a competitive exporter of hydrogen.
The roadmap’s ambitions underscore the UAE leadership’s legacy of progressive solutions to global climate challenges, as demonstrated by the announcement of country’s Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative, said the local reports.
With it, the UAE became the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to announce a net-zero strategic initiative by 2050 in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, said the reports.
The roadmap comprises three core objectives. The first is unlocking new sources of value creation through exports of low carbon hydrogen, derivatives, and products to key importing regions.
The second is fostering new hydrogen derivative opportunities through low-carbon steel, sustainable kerosene as well as other priority UAE industries.
The third is simply contributing to the UAE’s 2050 net-zero commitments.
As outlined in the roadmap, the UAE aims to support the low-carbon hydrogen business through five critical enablers.
The first is a clear regulatory framework that is backed by policies, incentives, standards, and certifications.
The second is best-in-class technology through value-add partnerships, and the vibrant and robust UAE domestic research and development structure.
The third is access to existing and new government-to-government relationships to accelerate growth of a domestic ecosystem.
The fourth is readily available land and infrastructure resources to support domestic production.
The last of these is green financing within the UAE and in international capital markets.
Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, was quoted by the local reports as saying: “Plans, strategies, and implementation of the necessary initiatives and projects are under development by stakeholders in UAE’s key sectors, including energy, economy, industry, infrastructure, transport, waste, agriculture, and the environment.”
He added: “Green hydrogen is envisaged to play a significant role in UAE’s domestic strategy to meet the UAE 2050 Net-Zero goals and which will also assist globally by exporting hydrogen.”