Around 60 participants gathered in Berlin on 4 June 2025 for the third annual networking meeting of the Export Initiative Environmental Protection (EXI). The EXI funding programme of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Nature and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN – Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Klima, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit) opened the event to a wider audience for the first time this year. In addition to representatives of ongoing EXI-funded projects, external experts from industry, research and other funding programmes were also invited.
The aim of the meeting was to promote the exchange of knowledge across project boundaries and to discover new opportunities for future projects together with partners from science and industry. The focus was on the EXI “Green hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in decentralised energy supply” field of action, which is one of a total of five fields of action covered by the initiative. During the event, NOW GmbH and DIHK Service GmbH also renewed their cooperation agreement on strategic collaboration within the framework of EXI.
Nilgün Parker, Head of Sustainable Financial Policy, Environment and Foreign Trade Promotion, BMUKN: “Every year, the EXI networking meeting brings together leading minds from the German and international green tech industry. They demonstrate is the fact that German environmental technologies can make a decisive contribution to a reliable and climate-friendly energy supply worldwide. Our EXI projects impressively underscore the potential of these decentralised, local solutions, which are supported by a strong network of committed partners around the world.”
From the idea to implementation: How can green hydrogen and fuel cell technologies be established in decentralised energy supply?
The network meeting was opened with welcoming addresses by Nilgün Parker (BMUKN), Sabine Ziem-Milojevic (NOW GmbH) and Daniel Roos (ZUG gGmbH). This was followed by a panel discussion on project implementation, during which various EXI projects were presented. In addition to the pilot projects Green-H2Islands (Thailand), GH2GH (Ghana), HygO (Namibia), HyTrA (South Africa) and WRAP_GH2 (Jordan), DIHK Service GmbH presented the work of the Chambers for GreenTech.The aim of the Chambers is to work with local German Chambers of Commerce Abroad to implement projects that support German GreenTech companies in entering partner markets. The two funding programmes of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE – Bunddesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie), “H2Uppp” and “Exportinitiative Energie” (Energy Export Initiative), were then presented on the panel and discussed cross-programme synergies with EXI.
All participants subsequently had the opportunity to exchange ideas in various workshops on how projects for decentralised energy supply using green hydrogen and fuel cell technologies can be better established in the future.
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.
Image credit: Franz Josef
