Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, said that Africa needs to maximize the feasibility of producing and exporting green hydrogen by increasing demand and reducing production, transport and storage costs.
This came during his participation in a session on positioning Africa as a global hub for green hydrogen, within the events of Africa CEO Forum in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan.
Mohieldin reported that African countries have promising national and regional initiatives in the field of green hydrogen, but they face some challenges that require the development of regulatory frameworks and working principles that help overcoming these challenges.
Mohieldin stressed the need to work on increasing the demand for African production and stock of green hydrogen, and to benefit from the need of neighboring countries and regions, especially Europe, for African stocks to achieve sufficient from this eco-friendly fuel.He added that Africa must also enhance the quality of green hydrogen production infrastructure, increase storage capacity and support supply chains.
The climate champion stated that Africa must invest in the human capital, train it and provide it with advanced technology related to the production of green hydrogen to ensure the continuity and sustainability of this source of clean energy.
Mohieldin confirmed that financing activities related to the green hydrogen industry in Africa must be done mainly by investment, or through concessional financing by international financial institutions (IFIs) and multilateral development banks (MDBs), pointing in this regard to the importance of these institutions and banks adopting new concessional financing policies that include low interest rates and long-term payment and grace periods, with middle-income countries benefiting from this concessional financing as well as low-income countries.
Mohieldin stressed the importance of starting the implementation of green hydrogen plans in Africa as soon as possible through the concerted efforts of governments and the private sector, bearing in mind the importance of addressing the phenomenon of greenwashing by adhering to the standards and recommendations on the governance of environmental and social practices of companies and the private sector contained in the relevant international reports.
