Germany and Norway sign joint statement on cooperation on hydrogen imports

During his visit to Norway today, Vice Chancellor Dr Robert Habeck signed a joint statement on energy cooperation with the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. It specifies close collaboration with the aim to realise large-scale hydrogen imports from Norway to Germany as soon as possible.

Federal Minister Habeck said: "Norway and Germany are close partners on the energy transition and climate action. We wish to further deepen this partnership. The joint statement which we have signed today underlines our intention. Our two countries agree that our planning needs to bear a European hydrogen infrastructure in mind from the outset."

In the joint statement, Norway and Germany emphasise that in light of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which is a violation of international law, it is now more important than ever to quickly reduce Europe’s dependency on Russian imports. We urgently need to accelerate the energy transition, expand the use of renewable energy, and considerably increase energy efficiency. At the same time, we need to further speed up the upcoming transition from conventional natural gas to green hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives like ammonia. In this context, the two countries also intend to examine the construction of a pipeline from Norway to Germany for the possible future transport of green hydrogen. To this end, Norway and Germany want to rapidly commission a joint feasibility study to clarify whether and under which conditions it makes sense to establish such an additional transport infrastructure.

When it comes to elaborating plans for the construction of a pipeline, consideration will also be given to the role that "blue hydrogen" can play during a transition period to "green hydrogen". Both countries are aware of the fact that this can be no more than a transitional arrangement to facilitate progress on green hydrogen and to make it economically viable as soon as possible.

You can find the joint statement here.