Second networking meeting of the Federal Environment Ministry’s Export Initiative for Climate Protection (EXI) takes place in Berlin
On 05 September 2024, around 30 representatives from international projects of the Export Initiative for Environmental Protection (EXI) met for the second time in Berlin. The initiative is a funding programme of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV). The networking meeting brought together project implementers from research, industry and the public sector, enabling them to share expertise from their projects and create new synergies. The event focussed on projects from the EXI action field: ‘Green hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in decentralised energy supply’, one of five action fields of the initiative.
Nilgün Parker, Head of Division for Sustainable Finance Policy, Environment and Foreign Trade Promotion, BMUV: ‘Demonstrating the technical and also economic feasibility of locally applicable green hydrogen and fuel cell technologies is the focus of our EXI projects. With innovative technologies ‘Made in Germany’, EXI supports the international competitiveness of innovative small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), facilitates environmental protection in practice and strengthens local knowledge building.’
From Ghana to South Africa – Focus on green hydrogen and fuel cell technologies
The network meeting was opened with welcome addresses by Nilgün Parker (BMUV), Sabine Ziem-Milojevic (NOW GmbH) and Julia Buccini (ZUG gGmbH). Representatives then reported from ongoing EXI projects ‘HyTra’ from South Africa, ‘HygO’ from Namibia, ‘ECO-FCGen’ from India and ‘GH2GH’ from Ghana. Other actors linked to EXI from research and industry also had the opportunity to present themselves. All participants then worked out how the knowledge gained thus far from the EXI projects can be put to further use and made accessible to the industry.
The networking meeting took place at the presentation of the EXI Annual Conference, which will be hosted by the BMUV on 6 September at the ZUG gGmbH premises and will bring together representatives from all EXI fields of action.
About EXI
Since 2016, the BMUV has supported German GreenTech SMEs in disseminating innovative environmental technologies ‘Made in Germany’ through its funding programme, EXI. The goal is to create optimised environmental conditions for sustainable development and better environmental and living conditions in the target countries. By supporting appropriate infrastructure, the EXI projects contribute to implementing green public services and environmentally-friendly services globally. NOW GmbH is responsible for EXI’s focus on green hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in decentralised energy supply since 2021. As the EXI project management organisation, Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH (Future – Environment – Society) has supported the Federal Environment Ministry in carrying out its tasks since 2022. More information on EXI can be found here.