«The European Union has a strong ambition for the development of renewable energy and renewable hydrogen within Europe while it also expressed the expectation to import large quantities of renewable hydrogen from outside Europe. It is clear that this can offer great opportunities for non-EU countries, especially for countries in the vicinity of the European Union.»

Because the development of renewable energy and renewable hydrogen does not only mean

1. cheap electricity,
2. less energy import for net importing countries,
3. a lower carbon footprint and
4. the economic added value of developing this renewable energy and renewable hydrogen. (downstream)

In addition to all these benefits, there is also the potential to strengthen and possibly expand the clean tech manufacturing capacities in Southern Neighbourhood countries (upstream).
 
To be more specific, the long value chains of several clean technologies for renewable energy development and renewable hydrogen development can create openings for targeted manufacturing capacities in certain countries that could serve both domestic and international demand.
 
This is an element that the MED-GEM project can also look into. So with the MED-GEM Industry Advisory Board, we hope these ideas are being discussed with the private sector in the Southern Neighbourhood countries as well as with the private sector in Europe. We hope that this could perhaps also trigger further discussions and possibly even lead to EU-Mediterranean Clean Tech Partnerships that can further deepen economic integration.
 
We see the MED-GEM project as a great vehicle to have these discussions with the private sector and we are therefore very keen to see the MED-GEM Industry Advisory Board develop further.

Milou Beerepoot, Programme manager
Programmes Neighbourhood South - Energy
DG NEAR, European Commission