ABU DHABI: The UAE’s energy minister expects hydrogen to be included in a revised energy strategy, to be launched this year, as part of the Gulf state’s ambitions to become a top hydrogen exporter and advance its clean energy development projects.

It launched its energy strategy plan for 2050 in 2017 but is preparing to update it to align with its goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

“My expectation is that it (the revised strategy) is going to put hydrogen as one element in the target of the strategy of energy by 2050,” Suhail Al-Mazrouei said at a hydrogen summit during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

“That would require us to go and significantly increase the installed capacity of solar in order for us to produce enough hydrogen to use it as a fuel.”

In October, Al-Mazrouei said the UAE aimed to reach a 25 percent share of the hydrogen export market and that Japan, South Korea and Germany would be top destinations for it.

The UAE, one of the world’s top oil exporters, is preparing to host the UN’s climate conference COP28 toward the end of this year amid questions from some activists about fossil fuel interests dominating the debate.

Al-Mazrouei said the UAE hoped to demonstrate its ability to “walk the talk” by implementing projects and meeting clean energy targets.

The UAE launched 11 environmentally friendly energy projects worth AED 159 billion ($43.2 billion) in 2022, the energy minister recently revealed. Al-Mazrouei said that the country’s clean energy production in 2021 totaled 7,035.75 MW.

He said the UAE has adopted the latest innovations that drive the path of sustainable development and was among the first countries to ratify the Paris Agreement.

arabnews