Germany will have to import at least 50 percent of the hydrogen it needs to meet its own green energy targets, the economy ministry said Wednesday.
Europe’s largest economy is betting heavily on hydrogen and its derivatives as it looks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 65 percent by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2045.
But Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Wednesday much of that will “have to be covered by imports from abroad”.
Between 50 and 70 percent of Germany’s hydrogen is expected to come from abroad by 2030, Habeck said as he presented the government’s roadmap for obtaining supplies.
Hydrogen use is then expected to rise further and “we can expect the proportion of imports to continue to rise after 2030”, Habeck said.
Germany is working with “a large number of countries” to “diversify sources of supply as much as possible”, he said.
Habeck and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have visited several countries over the past two years with a view to inking hydrogen partnerships, including Canada, Qatar and Australia as well as African nations.
Germany shut down its last remaining nuclear power stations in 2023 and wants to wean itself off coal by 2038 at the latest.
The government has launched several schemes to incentivise green technology projects, including investments in hydrogen and plans to authorise carbon capture.
Representatives of the business community said Wednesday the hydrogen strategy was not concrete enough.
Hartmut Rauen, deputy director of the influential engineering association VDMA, lamented the lack of “new measures, fresh impulses or even milestones that could stimulate global trade in hydrogen”.