Indo-German cooperation on hydrogen

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Dr Robert Habeck and India’s Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy R.K. Singh signed an agreement on Indo-German cooperation on hydrogen.

The agreement signed in the context of the Indo-German Intergovernmental Consultations underlines the willingness of both countries to work closely together on the production, processing, use and transport of green hydrogen.

Dr Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, said, “Expanding the production and use of green hydrogen serves to reach our common long-term objective to accelerate the green hydrogen ramp-up and thus make green hydrogen economically viable. In the context of our energy partnership with India, we have agreed to intensify our cooperation to develop innovative solutions for the sustainable production of green hydrogen.”

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced last year, India aims to become a “global hub” for green hydrogen and an important exporter of green hydrogen. German business is very interested in this Indian objective. On the one hand, electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen developed by German companies can be used to establish a green hydrogen industry in India. On the other hand, German technology providers are also working to develop world-class solutions along the entire hydrogen value chain, including ways of converting hydrogen to synthetic fuels such as e-fuels for aviation.

The cooperation agreement aims to set up a task force in the Indo-German energy partnership, the Indo-German Energy Forum. This task force promotes the establishment of a close network between the governments, industries and research institutions of both countries. In addition, a roadmap including specific common measures to support the green hydrogen market ramp-up is planned to be drawn up. According to the agreement, future cooperation will promote public and private investment in the production, transport and consumption of green hydrogen and its derivatives. The task force also aims to foster the sharing of know-how and experience in regulation, standards, security procedures and sustainability criteria for green hydrogen.

The task force will be supported by the offices of the energy partnership in New Delhi and in Berlin. The Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) was set up in 2006 at the level of heads of government as an official dialogue platform for high-ranking political decision-makers, finance institutions, and industrial and research organisations to intensify the bilateral cooperation on the energy transitions in Germany and in India.