Dr Joachim Pfeiffer - Spokesperson for Economic Affairs and Energy of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag gave the impulse statement on the recently released German strategy. The session also included presentations on the Australian strategy (Dr Thomas Longden - Grand Challenge Fellow, College of Asia & the Pacific, Australian National University (ANU), the recently released European strategy (Dr Frank Umbach - Research Director, European Centre for Climate, Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS), King’s College London (to be relocated to the University of Bonn), Australian hydrogen opportunities and the international context (Prof Frank Jotzo – Director, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, ANU) as well as synergies between hydrogen export and domestic energy transition in Australia (Changlong Wang - Researcher, Energy Transition Hub, University of Melbourne). The prospects for cooperation between Australia and Germany in the hydrogen sector were also on the agenda.
Prof Friedbert Pflueger (Director of EUCERS), Dr Joachim Lang (Director General of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and Prof Peter Rayner (Director, Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne) contributed their expertise and fostered a fruitful discussion between representatives from the academe, politics, governmental departments and the business sector.
The expert discussion showed that hydrogen will be central to our future energy systems, and that - not least thanks to shared values - there is great potential for a cooperation between Germany and Australia in this area.
The energy policy dialogue is scheduled to be continued online by way of a public seminar in October this year.
