6th Franco-German Energy Forum Successful dialogue about the role of hydrogen for the energy transition and cross-sector decarbonisation

Today, the 6th meeting of the Franco-German Energy Forum took place as a purely online session for the first time. The Forum is organised by the Franco-German Office for the Energy Transition together with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the Federal Foreign Office and the French Ministry of Ecological Transition.

In his opening speech, State Secretary Dr Philipp Nimmermann said: "In the last six years, the Franco-German Energy Forum has been a key element of the Franco-German energy dialogue. The Franco-German Office for the Energy Transition is an outstanding project in cooperation with the French Ministry of Ecological Transition. We very much appreciate this Franco-German dialogue, with a focus on hydrogen this year."

The central theme of the 6th Franco-German Energy Forum is "The energy transition and cross-sector decarbonisation: the role of hydrogen for industry, mobility and electricity". The rapid decarbonisation of the economy by means of hydrogen is a key priority of both Germany and France. Apart from basic questions regarding the potential and geopolitical aspects of hydrogen and the need to establish a European hydrogen infrastructure, the participants discussed the regulatory framework for hydrogen in individual sectors and fields of application (in particular the decarbonisation of industry, molility and electricity). In the context of a political panel, Dr Alexander Lücke, Deputy Director General for Energy Security in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Mr Christophe Kassiotis, the French Cabinet Director of the Directorate-General for Energy and Climate at the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, and Mr Hans van Steen, Principal Adviser at the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission, exchanged their views on German, French and European priorities and approaches.

The Franco-German Office for the Energy Transition (https://energie-fr-de.eu) was established by the German and French governments in 2006. It is an information and networking platform for German and French players of the energy transition from business and government in the fields of wind energy, photovoltaics and biogas, market and system integration of renewable energy, energy storage, supply security, sector coupling, renewable heat, energy efficiency, mobility, social, ecological and economic developments of the energy transition, the decarbonisation of industry and (since 2023) hydrogen.

The 6th session of the Franco-German Energy Forum is one of several Franco-German high-level meetings taking place this week. At the beginning of the week, Minister Habeck participated in the Franco-German intergovernmental session in Hamburg, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Minister of Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire.

Further information can be found here.