Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada on Monday to strengthen access to new sources of energy as his country quickly ends its dependence on Russian oil and gas.
At a joint press conference in Montreal on the first full day of his three-day visit, Scholz said Germany is accelerating the construction of port infrastructure and liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipelines to boost imports, and is turning to other nations like Canada to boost their output.
Germany needs more liquefied natural gas for the energy transition, he said, adding: “This is essential because we want to free ourselves from dependence on Russian gas supplies.”
Scholz is also eyeing future Canadian hydrogen exports. On Tuesday, the two leaders, along with a sizeable business delegation, will tour a proposed site in the province of Newfoundland for hydrogen production.
Trudeau hailed Canada as “a reliable supplier of the clean energy a world with zero net emissions (emissions) needs.”
But he downplayed the likelihood of direct shipments of LNG from Canada to Germany, citing the long distance from gas fields in western Canada to Atlantic ports for overseas shipments.
“We’re looking at ways to see if it makes sense to export LNG and if there’s a business case for exporting it (LNG) directly to Europe,” Trudeau told reporters.
Meanwhile, he and Scholz hinted at a big hydrogen deal to be announced on Tuesday.
“We are driving a number of investments around hydrogen and look forward to talking more about them tomorrow,” Trudeau said.
Explaining that Germany has bet on hydrogen to move towards a net-zero economy, Scholz said, “Canada will play a tremendously important role in the development of green hydrogen going forward.”
“It can become one of the great powers in supplying many industrialized nations with green hydrogen,” he said, referring to the use of renewable energies such as wind power to produce hydrogen.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss business opportunities in the automotive and critical minerals mining sectors, as well as support for Ukraine, including its eventual post-war reconstruction.
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