Germany, Canada set to seal green hydrogen agreement

DPABerlinGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are to attend an economic conference in Toronto on Tuesday, the second day of the German leader’s inaugural trip to Canada.The two heads of government will then travel to Newfoundland, where an agreement on stronger cooperation between the two countries in the production and transport of hydrogen is to be signed in the remote town of Stephenville.Scholz will be accompanied on his trip by his deputy, Economy Minister Robert Habeck.Newfoundland is considered a favourable location for the production of renewable hydrogen. The region is very windy and sparsely populated.The use of hydrogen does not produce greenhouse gases. To produce it, water has to be split into hydrogen and oxygen, an electrolysis that is only climate-friendly if sustainably produced energy is used.In principle, hydrogen can serve as a basis for fuels to replace coal, oil and natural gas in industry and transport. Because its production is very energy-intensive, hydrogen is currently still significantly more expensive than fossil fuels.Earlier on Monday eyeing the energy crises that have broken out in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz used a visit to Canada on Monday to stress the importance of strong cooperation with the North American country in the energy sector."Canada will play a very, very central role in the development of green hydrogen,” Scholz said after meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal. "That’s why we’re very happy that we can also take this opportunity to expand our partnership in this field.” Green hydrogen refers to the process of distilling hydrogen as a fuel with the use of renewable energy, meaning the creation of an emissions-free fuel without any emissions-based fuel used in the process. That compares to other methods of extracting hydrogen that rely on less climate-friendly fuels.Germany has staked a fair amount of its emissions-free fuel future on a switch to hydrogen.However, Scholz also stated that natural gas will still be needed during a transitional period to reduce dependence on Russian gas supplies.