At the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels, the European Union strengthened its energy partnership with Central Asia by signing agreements with Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan to expand renewable energy and hydropower projects. Backed by the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank, the initiative goes beyond power generation; it sets the stage for green hydrogen development and future energy corridors that could link Central Asia with European markets.
Zhuldyz Ramazanova.
Hydrogen is perceived as the fuel of the future that could decarbonize hard-to-abate industries and power entire economies. Yet beyond its technical promises, hydrogen is also becoming a tool of geopolitics just like oil and gas once were. As countries and companies are investing into scaling up its production, one critical question is yet to be resolved: how hydrogen will be transported, and who will control those routes. Transportation is the ever-lasting invisible backbone of decarbonization, connecting areas rich in renewable resources with centers of demand, and the regions investing in infrastructure today will shape the energy map of tomorrow.
The European REPowerEU plan has been launched amidst the start of the war and has a goal to diversify energy imports and accelerate Europe’s clean energy transition. The plan sets ambitious targets for hydrogen as 10 million tons of domestic renewable production and 10 million tons of imports by 2030 to help decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, chemicals, and heavy transport.
To meet its import target, the EU is now exploring several transport routes, so-called hydrogen corridors. These include such projects that are part of European Hydrogen Backbone Initiative as the Southern H2Med route that links Spain, France, and Portugal; the North Sea network; and now, there is an ever-increasing attention to the corridors through the Caspian region.
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route project is a trade and transport route connecting China and Central Asia with Europe, while the recently announced Green Energy Corridor adds a crucial clean-energy dimension. Together, they represent the infrastructure that could redefine how power, both economic and energy, flows across Eurasia.
Central Asian energy infrastructure provides a good foundation for this transformation. Decades of experience in oil and gas production and transportation have built networks of pipelines, storage facilities, and technical expertise that can be partially repurposed for hydrogen. Moreover, slowly but steadily political momentum in the region is growing. In 2024, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding at COP29 in Baku to cooperate on the production, transportation, and trade of renewable energy, green hydrogen, and ammonia. Central Asia fits to the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, which aims to build trusted partnerships for critical energy and raw material supply chains. Hydrogen diplomacy is no longer a niche concept but a key pillar to the new connectivity agenda.
However, there are quite a few challenges on the way to the project’s success. Transporting hydrogen over long distances remains one of the biggest technical and economic challenges. The hydrogen molecule has low density, which makes it difficult to store and move efficiently. For example, in current realities, moving one kilogram of hydrogen from western Kazakhstan to Europe could cost between two and seven euros, depending on the method. Repurposed pipelines could lose 10–15% of energy efficiency, while liquefied hydrogen faces up to 30% loss due to extreme cooling requirements. Converting hydrogen into ammonia is cheaper to ship, but energy is lost again during reconversion.
The same corridor can have vastly different climate and cost implications depending on the choice of technology. Though, despite challenges, hydrogen demand is inevitable and the infrastructure to meet this demand is already developing. CA nations investing today in both “hard” infrastructure, which is pipelines, ports, and terminals, and soft infrastructure, which is legal frameworks, certification systems, and partnerships, are positioning themselves as players in tomorrow’s energy system.
Hydrogen diplomacy is quietly redrawing the map of Eurasia. The next great energy alliances will not be built around oil wells, but around corridors that connect renewables to global markets. For Central Asia, this is more than an economic opportunity; it is a chance to secure its role as a bridge between Europe’s green ambitions and Asia’s growing demand for clean energy.
The author is Zhuldyz Ramazanova is a climate specialist and a fellow at The Hague Research Institute, the Netherlands.
