Ashraf AboArafe
His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, met with His Excellency the Minister of Energy Transition of the Republic of France, Agnès Bagnier-Roncher, and they issued the following joint statement:
Energy is one of the main pillars of the long-term partnership between the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of France, as they affirmed their commitment to sign a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of energy on February 2, 2023.
Both countries attach importance to the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement in line with the principles, goals and objectives set out therein, including efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Dealing with the challenges of climate change, as well as enhancing the security, reliability, sustainability and affordability of energy supplies, are joint strategic priorities between the Kingdom and France.
Both countries realize that clean hydrogen is an essential fuel for achieving common goals in achieving sustainable economic development while mitigating the effects of climate change.
In addition, both countries agreed to enhance cooperation in the field of electricity, exchange experiences in the field of generating electricity from renewable energy sources, and electrical interconnection projects, and encourage the participation of private sectors in electricity projects, including technologies for electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and storage. and network automation technologies.
Both countries agreed to make joint efforts to enhance energy efficiency, enhance cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, within a peaceful and safe framework, manage radioactive waste and nuclear applications, and develop human capabilities.
Both countries also agreed to cooperate in promoting climate change technologies and solutions, including carbon capture, use and storage, from sectors with emissions that are difficult to mitigate, such as cement, aviation, marine, petrochemical, and others.
The Kingdom seeks to become one of the world leaders in the export of hydrogen and electricity generated from low-emission sources, taking advantage of its ability to produce hydrogen and generate electricity from low-emission sources at a competitive cost.
The Kingdom has the necessary resources of renewable energy, natural gas and carbon pools to export hydrogen, in addition to its strategic location near the largest global demand centers.
The French strategy for the development of carbon-free hydrogen aims to contribute significantly to the decarbonization of the industrial and transport sectors.
The strategy includes a public investment program and “France 2030”, which aims to accelerate investment and develop innovative solutions in the sectors of French excellence to decarbonize industry and develop renewable energy with the aim of increasing the installed capacity up to 100 gigawatts by 2050, so that more than 40 gigawatts are produced from farms. offshore wind.
The Kingdom and France have placed hydrogen and electricity produced from low-emission sources and renewable energy at the heart of the energy transition process for both countries. They have also agreed to unite efforts in searching for innovative solutions to produce hydrogen in the most efficient and competitive way, and to develop its use in industry, transportation, and electricity generation. buildings and other related applications.
To this end, the Kingdom and France agreed to cooperate in the fields of hydrogen and electricity generated by renewable energy, with a roadmap based on three pillars:
Technological development: Cooperation in the fields of hydrogen and electricity generated by renewable energy will promote the application of technologies in production, transportation and conversion in demand centers.
Trade Cooperation: The private sector plays an important role, and Saudi-French cooperation welcomes joint efforts between Saudi and French companies to partner on the entire energy supply chain to launch trade in hydrogen.
Policies and Regulations: The Roadmap will promote the development of the hydrogen sector through the mutual endorsement of the Certification Framework, including a Life Cycle Assessment of emissions from all potential sources, to ensure consistency in international trade.
Both countries will work to enhance cooperation in developing and sustaining supply chains in the energy sectors, and to enable cooperation between companies to maximize the utilization of local resources in both countries, which contributes to achieving the flexibility and effectiveness of energy supplies.
Both parties support the formation of a “Saudi-French working group” with the aim of achieving the desired results from cooperation in the field of hydrogen and other fields.
