Chilean Ambassador to South Korea Gloria Cid.(Embassy of Chile in Seoul)
Chile recently hosted, between May 31 and June 6, two major summits related to clean energy and innovation: Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM 12) and Mission Innovation Ministerial (MI-6). In doing so, it became the first country in South America to host and lead both meetings, which brought together the 23 major economies of the world, including South Korea, to discuss the acceleration of the global energy transformation.
With high-level guests, such as the US Special Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry; the businessman and former Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg; and the American philanthropist Bill Gates, the objectives of these forums were clear: to promote collaboration between countries, incorporating technology and innovation; and to adopt on concrete actions to accelerate the transformation toward the use of clean energy, a fundamental aspect to comply with global commitments against climate change.
One of the tangible results of the Mission Innovation Ministerial has been the creation of the “Clean Hydrogen Mission,” a space that will seek to join collective efforts to promote this market worldwide. In this regard, Chile has partnered with Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Union, with a view to promoting a supply that is estimated could grow to 25,000 million dollars by 2030.
The commitment is to move towards increasing the competitiveness of clean energy and green hydrogen, making it more accessible to the population, through the support of public policies and collaboration with the private sector, taking advantage of national and international demand and the abundant renewable resources that Chile owns.
This important initiative complements the ambitious National Green Hydrogen Strategy, announced by Chile in 2020, which aims to make our country the most efficient producer of this energy in the world by 2030; to reach a capacity of 5 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity in its development by 2025; and to be one of the three main exporters of Green Hydrogen by 2040, with the lowest international production cost.
With this goal in mind, Chile has deployed an active Green Hydrogen diplomacy, seeking to position itself internationally as a reliable and stable global supplier of clean energy. Korea can be an excellent partner for our country towards the development of this technology.
The synergies between Chile and South Korea’s policies on environmental and green hydrogen issues, as well as the renewed commitment of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and President Moon Jae-in at the II P4G Summit to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, open great opportunities to increase bilateral collaboration, both public and private, in the framework of the implementation of the Korean Green New Deal.
In the last 10 years, thanks to advances and international cooperation, Chile has been able to develop new solar technologies to take advantage of the best solar radiation in the world in the Atacama Desert. Our goal is to reach 70 percent renewable energy generation, delivering competitive clean fuels to the world by 2030, in which the development of a green hydrogen industry will drive a sustainable global economy for years to come.
By Gloria Cid
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Gloria Cid is Chilean Ambassador to South Korea. She contributed this column for The Korea Herald. -- Ed.