The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has long positioned itself as a leader in renewable energy.
The World Future Energy Summit, to be held at the ADNEC Centre in Abu Dhabi from 13 to 15 January as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week organised by Masdar, will highlight the key role of green hydrogen in industrial decarbonisation.
In the context of the UK‘s ambition to expand low-carbon hydrogen production to 10 GW by 2030, the Summit provides a platform for industry leaders, policymakers and investors from the UAE and the UK to explore collaborative solutions.
The Summit will showcase how the UAE’s experience in renewable energy and large-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects can help scale up the UK’s green hydrogen market, laying the groundwork for strategic partnerships and cross-border investments.
Leading market analysts insist that the green hydrogen boom has entered a new phase of market realism over the past two years, prompting the UK to push for a more ambitious development agenda, with low-carbon hydrogen as a priority in its energy plans. Increasingly forceful statements from key figures in the British government highlight a transition from stated intent to real action on scalable projects and investments.
Sarah Jones, UK Minister of State for Industry, recently confirmed this stance. ‘I am convinced that hydrogen must be at the heart of our plans to boost the economy and achieve net zero emissions by 2050,’ she said. ‘The government and industry are already implementing concrete projects to boost the hydrogen economy in the UK.’
The United Arab Emirates is well positioned to benefit from and actively drive the growth of the burgeoning green hydrogen industry in the UK.”
Carole Nakhle, Chief Executive of Crystol Energy and Secretary General of the Arab Energy Club, will speak at the Summit next week.
‘The UK and the UAE share a long-standing strategic relationship that goes far beyond energy, but hydrogen is now a natural extension of that partnership as both countries pursue industrial decarbonisation and long-term growth,’ Nakhle said.
After the initial enthusiasm, the hydrogen market has entered a more sober and disciplined phase, where scale, capital strength, technical expertise and a genuine long-term commitment will determine who will succeed. For that potential to translate into results, the UK will need a clear and stable regulatory framework that gives international partners such as the UAE the confidence to invest capital on a large scale and for decades to come, Nakhle added.
Last year, in a two-part roundtable discussion, the World Future Energy Summit brought together leading figures from clean energy companies, industry groups, and financial and government agencies from both countries. Participants concluded that there is fertile ground for deeper collaboration between the UAE and the UK in the development of green hydrogen.
With their interests, ambitions and areas of expertise overlapping, the years 2026-2030 could represent a new phase of collaboration between the UAE and the UK on green hydrogen.
The scaling up of green hydrogen in the UK, from pilot projects and isolated use cases to industry-wide integration initiatives, will require massive and sustained funding. The UK Government’s own projections suggest that an additional £9 billion (AED 44.6 billion) of private sector funding will need to be raised to maintain its ambitions for 2030, primarily through the 27 hydrogen projects that represent the next stage of the Government’s flagship programme.
In June 2025, the UK government invested a further £500 million of public funds specifically for the purpose of developing hydrogen infrastructure, signalling its long-term commitment to building this nascent industry.
This represents a unique opportunity for the UAE to cement its position as a long-term strategic partner in the development of green hydrogen in the UK. Domestically, the UAE has already committed billions of dollars to upgrading its production facilities, such as the Ta’ziz Industrial Centre and a gigawatt-scale facility in Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Economic Zones (KEZAD).
Abroad, its appetite for funding is growing even faster, with private interests in the UAE last year committing £18.5 billion to a new green hydrogen and ammonia project in Dakhla, Morocco, to develop a plant with a capacity of 1 million tonnes per year. Private and public investment sources in the UAE are now poised to flow into the UK as well, if properly encouraged by the right combination of clear government signals and a robust pipeline of viable, risk-free projects.
In another episode of Future Energy Insights, Cornelius Matthes, CEO of Dii Desert Energy, outlined the reasoning behind the UAE’s growing enthusiasm for developing its own national green hydrogen capabilities, with a view to creating an industry that exceeds local demand and capitalises on the growing global appetite for decarbonisation.
‘The UAE has a target of 1.4 million tonnes per annum by 2031, but with so many new projects in the pipeline, I am confident that they will exceed that level, even if not all of them materialise,’ he said.
In recognition of its growing role and prominence in the global energy transition, the 2026 World Future Energy Summit, which already hosts several leading players in the sector, will once again feature the Green Hydrogen Innovation Hub, a dedicated zone showcasing more than 20 start-ups whose innovations can pave the way for even faster global integration and scaling.
With sufficient planning and close cooperation, the UAE and the UK can make the most of their respective resources, expertise and investment links, ensuring that both nations enjoy the benefits of early adoption of green hydrogen.
The World Future Energy Summit will explore the growing links between these two nations and their respective regional markets, in the context of a global transition to cleaner energy sources that drive faster industrial decarbonisation.
