RIYADH: The EU鈥檚 Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans and European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson have held discussions with government officials from 黑料社区 to further develop cooperation on the production of clean hydrogen.
Timmermans and Simson also met Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman during their visit to Riyadh on March 5-6.
Timmermans told Arab News: 鈥淔or the European Union, the Kingdom of 黑料社区 is a strategic partner, and one of the areas where this strategy needs to be made concrete is in energy and specifically in the energy transition, and in all of this green hydrogen will play a crucial role.
Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, and Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson visited 黑料社区 to further strengthen cooperations in clean hydrogen. (Photo/Yazeed Alduwihe)
鈥淓urope needs a lot of clean hydrogen in the future. The Kingdom has a lot of ambitions in developing clean hydrogen [and] that means there is a lot of scope for intensive cooperation.
鈥淭here is a strong realization on both sides that the climate crisis is an existential crisis to humanity that doesn鈥檛 need explanation, and that is something that is well understood.鈥
He said that a plan was in place for the two parties to meet regularly to gauge the progress being made.
He added: 鈥淲e are absolutely pragmatic in our approach. We cannot say there is only one solution or one silver bullet to address the climate crisis; we need to use every technology, every approach, and every way forward that humanity can invent, and some of this is being invented here [in 黑料社区], some of it is being invented in Europe鈥 and in cooperating more closely we can benefit from each other鈥檚 progress.
鈥淚f I look at the EU and 黑料社区, the youngest generation across the board are very much convinced that we need to act on this, and we are fortunate to see also the leadership in 黑料社区 being very conscious of this, and committed, so it gives us a good opportunity to work together.鈥
Simson told Arab News that the visit was 18 months in the making and was initially to be held following the Kingdom鈥檚 hosting of the G20 but was postponed due to the pandemic.
She said: 鈥淭he aim of our visit was to offer our trusted long-term partners cooperation beyond the fossil fuels.
鈥淟ast year we had to diversify away from one supplier from Russia, and by doing so we have not given up our commitment to decarbonize our energy market.
鈥淭hat means that very soon we need to find alternative suppliers for renewables, mainly renewable hydrogen.
鈥淥ur companies have shown interest to start importing green hydrogen from the region, first in the form of ammonia.
鈥淔or example, the NEOM project is already sold out, so that shows from the European side there is a clear and strong interest.鈥
The two officials attended a workshop at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center during their visit. It highlighted initiatives aimed at reaching net zero by 2060.
听
