University of Amsterdam: A future partnership between Europe and North Africa for electricity and hydrogen

In their paper, the researchers substantiate the ‘dream’ of Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, that he presented in 2019 before the EU Committee on the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety:

“In my dreams, we would create a partnership with Africa, especially North Africa, and we would help install a huge capacity of solar energy in Africa and transform that energy into hydrogen. Then we would transport that hydrogen to other parts of the world and Europe,…”.

Van der Zwaan and colleagues argue that Europe, despite potential fears over security and costs, should indeed seriously consider an energy partnership with North Africa. Not only because of the associated increase in overall climate change mitigation efficiency that can be realized, but also since trade revenues can lead to a series of positive socio-economic effects in North Africa.