The European Commission has announced that the EU and Japan have signed a memorandum of cooperation, intensifying their cooperation on hydrogen, to develop an international hydrogen market.
The parties will work together for sustainable and affordable production, trade, transport, storage, distribution and use of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen. The cooperation will help to establish a rules-based and transparent global hydrogen market without distortions to trade and investment.
According to the agreement, governments, industrial players, research institutions and local authorities in the EU and Japan will be encouraged to cooperate on fields such as policies, regulations, incentives and subsidies, including at the international level to work towards common standards and certification, and project development including in the context of multilateral cooperation initiatives, including with a view to supporting other countries around the world.
The EU and Japan have already committed to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and to accelerate the clean energy transition, as outlined in the EU-Japan Green Alliance signed in 2021 to create climate-neutral, circular and resource-efficient economies to achieve green growth.