Germany will invest EUR 4 bn in Africa’s green energy market: Between now and 2030, the German government says it will invest EUR 4 bn toward supporting Africa’s green energy sector in a bid to source some of the clean energy it needs and meet its climate action targets, Reuters reports, citing comments made by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Africa summit in Berlin earlier this week.

The details: The financing package would be funneled toward the EU-Africa Initiative for Green Energy. The EU has already committed EUR 3.4 bn in grants to support clean energy projects on the continent. Germany, which says it will need to tap foreign markets to source 50–70% of its hydrogen demand by 2030, is following the EU in its attempt to counter Chinese dominance in the green fuels and EV-critical minerals sectors by sourcing materials from Africa.

Germany also wants to establish green fuel trade zones in Africa: Scholz says his country is looking to establish green hydrogen-focused freetrade zones in Africa to tap into the continent’s “massive” green fuels export potential, Asharq Business reports. The country would look to establish freetrade ports in Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, among other African markets. According to a German-African Business Association poll, the country’s private sector is looking to increase its investments in the continent by an extra 43% next year compared to current levels with a focus on green hydrogen and natgas in a bid to wean itself off Russian fossil fuel imports, the news outlet notes.

REMEMBER- North Africa is projected to capture almost 40% of global green hydrogen trade revenues by 2050, with its export capacity expected to total 44 megatons by the same date, according to a recent Deloitte report (pdf). Algeria — which is targeting 10% of the EU’s hydrogen imports by 2040 — recently signed an agreement with Germany to jointly develop a EUR 12 mn 50 MW green hydrogen project in Algeria. It is also in talks with the EU country for potential conversion of a pre-existing Algeria-EU natural gas pipeline into a green hydrogen corridor to facilitate green fuel exports to the bloc. North Africa aside, Germany’s Uniper also signed an agreement with the UAE’s Masdar in January to develop a green hydrogen plant in the UAE powered by 1.3 GW of solar energy, and the EU wants to import the clean fuel produced at the facility.

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