African countries urged to collaborate on green hydrogen
• Competition ‘could make industry uneconomical’
Osinbajo welcomed the establishment of the African Green Hydrogen Alliance, and said it would help drive collaborative efforts in the green hydrogen space.
Nigeria’s former vice-president Yemi Osinbajo says African countries must work together when developing their green hydrogen industries, as competition will have the negative effect of driving down prices.
He made the remarks at a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) cluster meeting held in Windhoek.
Collaborative efforts between African countries would ensure the industry succeeds on the continent, Osinbajo said.
“For African countries with green hydrogen ambitions, one of the key things we must avoid is competition for export markets that leads to a race to the bottom for prices of our products.
“At the moment, looking at the sheer number of countries that are developing hydrogen projects, the real question will be how much will we sell for. If we are not careful, we could find ourselves in competition and make it uneconomical,” he said.
Osinbajo welcomed the establishment of the African Green Hydrogen Alliance, and said it would help drive collaborative efforts in the green hydrogen space.
“One of the most important things that have taken place is the alliance setup in May 2022. I think that is a major way of ensuring that we unify our thinking.”
Value addition
Osinbajo urged African countries to not only look at producing green hydrogen, but to also seek value-addition opportunities.
“The second point is looking for value-added opportunities in the development of hydrogen. Of course, we can produce green steel, green cement... We are talking to cement producers in Nigeria about manufacturing using hydrogen for green cement, the development of solar panels using green hydrogen... [There’s] so much [that] can be done,” he said.
He further appealed to African countries to focus their efforts towards environmentally friendly policies.
“To be the solution to net zero ambitions, four key elements need to be met. Two of these are primarily the responsibility of African countries, and the other two are matters of global cooperation. For African countries, we must focus our development plans along the lines of climate positive growth, and the second is to develop and implement legislation and policies around this climate positive growth,” he said.
He made the remarks at a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) cluster meeting held in Windhoek.
Collaborative efforts between African countries would ensure the industry succeeds on the continent, Osinbajo said.
“For African countries with green hydrogen ambitions, one of the key things we must avoid is competition for export markets that leads to a race to the bottom for prices of our products.
“At the moment, looking at the sheer number of countries that are developing hydrogen projects, the real question will be how much will we sell for. If we are not careful, we could find ourselves in competition and make it uneconomical,” he said.
Osinbajo welcomed the establishment of the African Green Hydrogen Alliance, and said it would help drive collaborative efforts in the green hydrogen space.
“One of the most important things that have taken place is the alliance setup in May 2022. I think that is a major way of ensuring that we unify our thinking.”
Value addition
Osinbajo urged African countries to not only look at producing green hydrogen, but to also seek value-addition opportunities.
“The second point is looking for value-added opportunities in the development of hydrogen. Of course, we can produce green steel, green cement... We are talking to cement producers in Nigeria about manufacturing using hydrogen for green cement, the development of solar panels using green hydrogen... [There’s] so much [that] can be done,” he said.
He further appealed to African countries to focus their efforts towards environmentally friendly policies.
“To be the solution to net zero ambitions, four key elements need to be met. Two of these are primarily the responsibility of African countries, and the other two are matters of global cooperation. For African countries, we must focus our development plans along the lines of climate positive growth, and the second is to develop and implement legislation and policies around this climate positive growth,” he said.
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