In a move that will see the establishment of a comprehensive hydrogen value chain between the UAE and Germany, the first-ever hydrogen-based ammonia test cargo from the UAE has reached Germany.

Europe's biggest copper smelter, Aurubis, is testing ammonia to reduce carbon emissions in copper rod production.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) will supply the blue ammonia to Aurubis.

Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, minister of industry and advanced technology and UAE special envoy for climate change, and Dr. Robert Habeck, German vice chancellor and federal minister for economy and climate action, attended a ceremonial event at the headquarters of Aurubis AG (Aurubis) in Hamburg, Germany.

More test cargoes carrying blue ammonia have been planned to arrive in Germany by year’s end.

The two countries have agreed to accelerate joint energy and industry projects during a Business Roundtable held in the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and attended by CEOs of leading energy and industrial companies from the UAE and Germany. The roundtable meeting builds on the Energy Security and Industry Accelerator (ESIA) agreement, signed in Abu Dhabi on September 25th.

As part of the ESIA, ADNOC and Masdar have been identified as the partners of choice to work towards decarbonizing Germany's hard-to-abate industry through hydrogen infrastructure opportunities, including strategic storage. Also read: Hydrogen as the Ideal Green Fuel

In addition to delivering low-carbon ammonia cargos to Germany, ADNOC recently entered into a supply deal with RWE for a commissioning cargo of LNG for its first floating terminal at Brunsbüttel, Germany, scheduled to arrive in December 2022. ADNOC also announced that it is reserving further LNG cargoes for German customers in 2023 and is allocating up to 250,000 tonnes of diesel per month to support Germany’s energy security in 2023. Also read: UAE to Supply Gas, Diesel to Germany

Meanwhile, Masdar, the UAE’s renewable energy champion, is actively exploring opportunities in the offshore wind markets in the North Sea and Baltic Sea that could generate up to 10GW of renewable energy production capacity by 2030. Such development would be contingent upon the two nations meeting the necessary German policy and regulatory requirements.

There are also plans to collaborate with H2Global – a key funding mechanism – to accelerate the bilateral and global expansion of the hydrogen economy.

The UAE is Germany’s largest trading partner in the Gulf region, and non-oil trade increased 10% last year.