Joint political declaration of intent to develop the Southern Hydrogen Corridor signed by five countries in Rome

As part of the first ministerial conference for the Southern Hydrogen Corridor, Germany, Algeria, Italy, Austria and Tunisia today signed a joint declaration of intent (JDol) on the development of the Southern Hydrogen Corridor in Rome.

The conference was attended by ministers, high-ranking delegations and representatives of the countries’ industries. Switzerland and the European Commission were also represented as observers. The meeting underlined the political support and close cooperation of all countries involved in the Southern Hydrogen Corridor, which was formalised by the signing of the political declaration of intent.

Germany was represented by Dr Philip Nimmermann, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, who said the following:

“The Southern Hydrogen Corridor is one of the largest and most important renewable energy projects of our time. Today, we are strengthening this new bridge between North Africa and Europe through the joint declaration of intent. This enables us to utilise North Africa’s immense potential for renewable energy, advance the hydrogen ramp-up in Germany and support the EU’s climate targets. German companies can be important partners and support Algeria and Tunisia in diversifying their domestic economies, making them fit for the future and creating new jobs.”

The Southern Corridor is intended to create a direct pipeline connection for gaseous hydrogen consisting of five sub-projects to transport renewable hydrogen from North Africa to Italy, Austria and Germany. It will have a length of approx. 3500-4000 km. According to the current plans of the the long-distance network operators, the European section of the Southern Corridor is to have a length of 3,250 kilometres and consist of 60-70% repurposed natural gas pipelines. This would allow up to 163 TWh/year of renewable hydrogen to be transported to Europe and 55 TWh to Germany.

The hydrogen infrastructure projects along the corridor, which stretch from Sicily to Bavaria, have already been recognised by the EU as Projects of Common Interest (PCI) and also given Global Gateway project status. On the production side, Tunisia has already signed ten declarations of intent for hydrogen projects, while Algeria has announced the development of a major hydrogen production project involving companies from Austria, Germany and Italy.

The next step is to substantiate the details of the hydrogen pipeline to North Africa – a project that the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is actively supporting through its bilateral hydrogen task force with Algeria and close cooperation with German and local institutions in Algeria and Tunisia.

The JDoI underlines the central role of the Southern Hydrogen Corridor in connecting renewable hydrogen production in North Africa with the centres of demand in the European Union. Through investment promotion, capacity building and the harmonisation of government efforts, the signatories of the JDoI aim to build a robust hydrogen value chain that ensures local value creation, jobs and sustainable energy development. The initiative is to become a cornerstone of the European energy security and decarbonisation strategy.