EU and Uruguay firm up renewable energy and hydrogen cooperation

The European Union and Uruguay have agreed to boost their cooperation in pursuing the energy transition with renewable energy, energy efficiency and renewable hydrogen in focus.

To this end, EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson and Uruguay’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Francisco Bustillo Bonasso signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 18 July at the EU-CELAC Summit in Brussels.

The MoU is part of the European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean Global Gateway Investment Agenda that the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented on 17 July at the EU-LAC Business Round Table.

Potential areas of cooperation under this MoU include the review and deepening of actions and policies for the promotion of energy efficiency as well as exchanges regarding policies on renewable energy and renewable hydrogen and its derivatives.

More specifically, the cooperation on research and regulatory issues will include work on definitions, methodologies, sustainability rules, certification systems, and measures to stimulate the improvement of energy efficiency and the uptake of renewable hydrogen.

The MoU underlines that investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and renewable hydrogen and its derivatives need to comply with the relevant environmental legislation related to marine and land sectors in both the EU and Uruguay, to ensure that both the climate and biodiversity crises are tackled in parallel.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “The EU and Uruguay share the ambition to boost the use of renewable energy sources, in line with our ambitious climate goals. We are aligned on the need for a rules-based, transparent, and undistorted global hydrogen market with reliable international standards and certification schemes to support the clean energy transition. This Memorandum of Understanding provides us with a basis to guide and intensify our work on these matters, as we both strive to reach climate neutrality by 2050.”

Renewable energy and hydrogen, along with methane emissions abatement, are also key areas of cooperation between the EU and Argentina. This is set out in an MoU signed by von der Leyen and the President of the Argentine Republic Alberto Fernández on 17 July at the EU-CELAC Summit.

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