Enabling Measures Roadmap for Low-Carbon Hydrogen Middle East and North Africa

Enabling Measures Roadmap for Low-Carbon Hydrogen  |  Middle East and North Africa 

Low-carbon hydrogen has an important role to play in the decarbonization of the energy and industry system, particularly in hard-to-abate
sectors. Cumulatively, low-carbon hydrogen can contribute to emissions reductions of as much as 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions
between 2021-2050, according to the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions scenario.

In addition, low carbon hydrogen presents a tremendous economic
opportunity for the Middle East and North Africa region, as a vehicle for economic diversification and domestic employment.
In the wake of COP28, we see several encouraging developments for realizing the low-carbon hydrogen economy. A few stand out:
• As a first, after decades of climate talks, COP28 concluded with a landmark deal to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels. Moreover, the final text
also directly calls for an acceleration of low-carbon hydrogen as a key lever for decarbonizing the energy system and economy.
• The Intergovernmental Declaration of Intent on Mutual Recognition of Certification Schemes for Hydrogen and Hydrogen Derivatives
(covering 80% of future global trade) and the global ISO methodology for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions assessment of hydrogen2 bring
four advantages to the hydrogen market: enhancing hydrogen’s position as a new asset class for global investors, assisting in establishing
consumer trust and reinforcing the viability of offtake agreements, promoting international trade in hydrogen and its derivatives and advancing
hydrogen implementation in emerging markets and developing economies.

• In the MENA region several countries, including the United Arab Emirates, have set hydrogen production targets. Masdar is targeting an
annual global green hydrogen production capacity of up to 1 million tons by 20303
, which is in line with the UAE’s strategy ambition to
produce 1.4 Mtpa by 2031 and 7.5 Mtpa by 2040.

While encouraging, the announcements, commitments and pledges coming off COP28 mark the start of a long and wide journey towards a lowcarbon hydrogen economy. Importantly, there are still a range of barriers to overcome to truly accelerate low-carbon hydrogen developments ,including cost-competitiveness, securing aggregated demand and coherently adopting and implementing standards & global  a wide range of topics.

The MENA region is in a unique position to unlock its vast renewable energy potential, enabling the shift of oil and gas dominated energy systems towards low-carbon hydrogen value chains. This Roadmap provides a suite of enabling measures that is carefully attuned to the region’s specific challenges and opportunities. As such, the Roadmap can be used as a tool for policy development, industry alignment and wider ecosystem creation and collaboration geared at unlocking the region’s low-carbon hydrogen potential. We look forward to working together in the evolving hydrogen ecosystem to transform ambitions into plans and plans into reality

The Global Hydrogen Hub