Moderator: Jürgen Pfeiffer

Although Europe already produced 47% of its energy from renewable sources last year according to the latest Commissions state of the Energy Union report in 2024, 18% of gas imports still come from Russia. And pressure rises from Washington to compensate parts of Europe's trade deficit by increasing LNG exports of fracking gas. One of Europes answers is the "SoutH2Corridor" project. The planned hydrogen corridor will connect the producer countries of North Africa, Tunisia and Algeria with future industry consumers in Italy, Austria and southern Germany via a 3300 km pipeline by 2030. The planned capacity: more than 4 million tons of hydrogen per year can be supplied to industries in southern Germany with green molecules.What does this mean in terms of specific energy costs? Is the supply from North Africa sufficient to meet the needs of energy-intensive industries in southern Germany and Europe's industrial heartland Benelux at an attractive price? And what role can low-carbon hydrogen play in order to defossilize small and medium-sized industry?These are some oft the key questions in this political panel: From the SoutH2 corridor to the hydrogen core grid - fast lane or detour for a net zero industry?