The EU and Uruguay will strengthen cooperation in renewable energy and hydrogen energy

The EU and Uruguay have agreed to strengthen cooperation to achieve the energy transition with a focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency and renewable hydrogen. To this end, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson and Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo Bonasso signed a memorandum of understanding at the EU-CELAC summit in Brussels on July 18.

Potential areas of cooperation under the MOU include reviewing and deepening actions and policies to promote energy efficiency, as well as information sharing and exchange on policies for renewable energy and renewable hydrogen and derivatives. More specifically, cooperation on research and management issues will include work on definitions, methodologies, sustainability rules, certification systems and measures to promote energy efficiency and the use of renewable hydrogen.

The MOU stresses that investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, renewable hydrogen and derivatives need to comply with EU and Uruguayan environmental legislation related to the Marine and land sectors to ensure that the climate and biodiversity crises are addressed simultaneously.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: "The EU and Uruguay share an ambition to promote the use of renewable energy, which is in line with our ambitious climate goals. We agree on the need for a rules-based, transparent and non-distorting global hydrogen market with reliable international standards and certification schemes to support the clean energy transition. This Memorandum of Understanding provides a basis to guide and enhance our work on these issues as we all strive to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.