the short term. The Gulf states offer strong financing capacities, pre-existing (export) infrastructure, short construction times, and advanced know-how in the hydrogen sector, thereby allowing them to implement pilot projects quickly. Their location, in the centre of the heavily travelled EU-China transport corridor, is ideal for the production of

The Gulf monarchies – where aviation is a major business – have also shown interest in e-fuels. In 2021, the UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the World Economic Forum, along with the Clean Skies for Tomorrow coalition, collaborated on a white paper called “Power-to-Liquids Roadmap: Fuelling the Aviation Energy Transition in t

sector in energy transition projects across the GCC, including in electricity interconnections – the core infrastructure that enables efficiency and electrification. European and GCC producers, transmission system operators, and distributors need new frameworks for dialogue on interconnections. This needs especially to address the prospect of lin

it domestically, freeing up more fossil fuels for export. (All the GCC countries are currently investing in more fossil fuel production capacity.) Later, they would diversify their exports by adding green energy. This would allow them to preserve their political-economic systems based on the redistribution of externally derived rents a little longe

as Scholz putit, “enable the rapid implementation of lighthouse projects [small-scale but big-picture initiatives] in the priority areas of renewable energy, hydrogen, LNG and climate protection”. Germany’s largest power company RWE, signed an initial agreement with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for a delivery of 137,000 cubic metres