Summary

The ambitious global decarbonization targets for 2050 require accelerated and significant changes regarding the energy sources and raw materials used in industrial processes.

Uruguay has almost fully decarbonized its electricity matrix and holds a prominent position worldwide, with a > 90% use of renewable energies (94% in 2016-2022). This achievement is followed by the local challenge of decarbonizing the rest of the energy matrix (currently approximately 40% fossil fuels), mainly in the transport and industrial sectors.

To this end, the low-emission energy transition requires new sources of energy locally and globally. This is because emissions are challenging to reduce in some industries because they cannot use renewable electricity directly (e.g., maritime, aviation, or some industrial sectors). This means that more extraordinary efforts should be made to diversify renewable energy sources that are more resilient over time and help decrease future risks.

In this context, producing new, more renewable energy sources-in particular, green hydrogen, made from water and renewable energies and with the capacity to decarbonize different uses (transport, industry, power generation and raw materials)-has become a hugely relevant carrier on the global agenda. In a scenario of projected high demand in Europe and East Asia, some countries will import, and others will export low-emission hydrogen. Uruguay meets the conditions to be an export country.

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