Colombia and Germany Create Green Hydrogen Committee

The two countries officially launched the Steering Committee of the High-Level Green Hydrogen Group, on March 6, 2024, an alliance aimed at promoting clean energy. This initiative comes one year after the agreement reached by President Gustavo Petro and The Federal Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, to promote cooperation programs in energy matters.

Objective in development: energy transition

During the launch of the committee, the importance of attracting foreign investment in energy transition projects, mobility and reindustrialization were topics addressed. Additionally, it was agreed to advance technology transfer and the insertion of Colombian companies into value chains, working to facilitate project execution through regulation, homologation and environmental licensing.

The Committee will be comprised on the Colombian side by the Ministers of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism, Germán Umaña Mendoza, and of Mines and Energy, Andrés Camacho, and on the German side by the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection, Franziska Brantner.

Colombia, Germany’s partner in energy supply

Colombians ministers agreed to establish contact points with Germany, a country that leads internationally in linking the private sector to hydrogen development. Additionally, Germany has a great interest in identifying potential countries that produce and export hydrogen for its consumption, as it relies on imports of green hydrogen for the sustainable transformation of its economy and energy supply in the long term.

During the dialogue, Colombia’s progress in terms of decarbonizing the economy was highlighted, as well as its latent reindustrialization policy that will accelerate the development of renewable energies and green hydrogen production. This process utilizes electric current to separate hydrogen from oxygen in water, allowing energy production without emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere if the electricity is obtained from renewable sources.

Green hydrogen pilots already underway in Colombia

To date, approximately 10 green hydrogen pilot schemes have been carried out in the country, with emphasis on end-uses in the residential, transportation and industrial sectors, all produced from non-conventional renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, biogas and small hydroelectric plants. Colombia possesses an optimal combination of abundant resources and significant energy export capacity, therefore, with the advance of the projects, a development not only in energy generation but in other segments such as tourism is assured.