The Politics of Green Hydrogen Cooperation
Potential North African exporters face challenges including securing buyers, establishing export infrastructure, and ensuring local acceptance. All three countries lack certainty about European demand, including agreements with offtakers which are needed to enable investment. This problem is most acute in Mauritania, where hydrogen will likely be developed primarily as an export in the
short to medium term.
Alongside ambitions to export green hydrogen, Morocco’s is proceeding with
plans to use green ammonia in fertilizer production, given its strong potential for local hydrogen
offtake. Algeria, which has long relied on fossil fuel exports, has traced a less ambitious timeline. It
is considering the development of green hydrogen exports to Europe and is exploring its use to decarbonize existing export products like fertilizers, cement, and steel. When it comes to infrastructure, Algeria and to a lesser extent Morocco could benefit from existing pipelines and short distances to the European market. However, if Morocco’s gas demand triples by 2040 as projected, gas imports
could preclude the use of existing infrastructure for hydrogen exports.
