A coalition of 87 civil society organisations and networks has voiced strong opposition to plans to export green hydrogen from North Africa to Europe, warning that it could exploit local resources.
The €13bn ($14.2bn) 3,300km SoutH2 corridor pipeline plans to connect Tunisia and Algeria with Germany, Austria and Italy, to secure volumes of green hydrogen to meet Europe’s RePowerEU goal of importing 10 million tonnes per year by 2030.
The plans, led by transmission systems operators (TSOs) Snam, TAG and Gas Connect Austria were endorsed by African and European politicians in January.
However, the coalition, led by the campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory, claims the development could amount to neo-colonialism, which places the burden of Europe’s decarbonisation on the Global South.
“It exploits African land, water and labour to feed Europe’s energy needs,” said Shereen Talaat, Director of MENAFem Movement.
© SoutH2 Corridor
The group also accused the development of extending the life of oil and gas infrastructure, pointing to messaging from the developers about the pipeline being “hydrogen ready” – a term critics say allows fossil fuel interests to secure billions in public subsidies.
Saber Ammar, North Africa Program Assistant at the Transnational Institute (TNI), claimed that projects like SoutH2 risk “locking exporting countries into a carbon-dependent model” while shifting socio-ecological costs onto African communities.
The coalition urged both EU and African institutions to halt investments in such projects, warning that the financial burden could fall on taxpayers while benefiting private energy firms.
Not new concerns
The stark opposition comes after a 2024 report by Ricardo warned that the EU’s hydrogen import strategy could fuel resource exploitation.
Lead author Maggie Adams noted that while hydrogen exports promise foreign investment and income, they come with risks of neo-colonial exploitation, environmental damage, and restricted energy access.
The report stresses the uncertainty of benefits for exporting nations, cautioning that the situation is highly complex with no clear-cut solutions.
Previously, Hydrogen Europe boss, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, said that while Europe will need Africa to meet its hydrogen goals, the build-out of the continent’s own production capacity must come first.
“This is about emancipation,” he told COP27. “It is about bringing countries to a level where they can first of all produce enough for themselves. It is not a plan to squeeze everything out of Africa for Europe.”
Developers looking to build hydrogen projects in Africa have also suggested that plants could deliver community-level benefits by oversizing water desalination and renewable energy capacity.
Masdar’s Dr. Faye Al Hersh, previously told H2 View, “The deployment of green hydrogen projects could help the expansion and acceleration of the supply of desalinated water, where desalination plants could be oversized to serve domestic demand.”
Unlocking Africa’s hydrogen potential requires risk mitigation, report advises
Africa could capture 15% of globally traded hydrogen volumes, but higher project financing costs risks its production build out, a new Hydrogen Council report has found.
Released today (March 26), The Africa Hydrogen Opportunity report said African countries could meet 15% of globally traded hydrogen demand, by leveraging its abundant renewable energy potential.
The report estimated renewable hydrogen production on the continent could grow from one million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in 2030 to 11 mtpa in 2050, mobilising a cumulative investment of $400bn and increasing African export value by $15bn.
However, it found Africa’s higher country-level risk and project execution risk are driving up financing costs, making the expected hydrogen production cost “higher than those in the Middle East and Australia.
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