Webinar — Green Hydrogen in Chile

The global energy transition is underway. Latin America is well-positioned as an enabler, given its reserves of critical metals for the manufacturing of electric cars and batteries such as copper and lithium, plus the existing and growing presence of renewables, particularly solar and wind power. Chile, the world’s largest producer of copper and second-largest producer of lithium, has garnered attention for its focus on energy transition and goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Key are efforts to attain almost one-third of electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and the full retirement of coal-fired generation by 2040, if not sooner.

In late 2020, Chile unveiled its strategic plan and pathway to its target of becoming the globe’s leading producer of green hydrogen by 2050. The national strategy is to be commended but also demands further analysis. The efforts to create and attend to internal demand for domestic applications most feasible for early hydrogen use such as ammonia, long-haul transport and mining trucks, among other areas, plus the market and finance model, deserve deeper understanding.

The webinar featured a keynote presentation from Chile’s Minister of Energy and Mining Juan Carlos Jobet and Max Correa Achurra, head of the Chilean energy ministry’s fuels and new energy division, and was followed by an invitation-only roundtable with presenters from Air Liquide, AES, Toyota and K&L Gates.

This event was hosted by the Latin American Energy Roundtable and the Energy, Minerals & Materials program at the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies along with the Institute of the Americas and the University of Antofagasta. It was the first in a series of high-level Southern Cone presentations and roundtables centered on legal, regulatory and investment climates for key inputs for the global energy transition.

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Slides from the presentation are available for download here.