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PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Sustainable Energy Systems
Volume 13 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2025.1538792
This article is part of the Research Topic Export and import of electrolytic hydrogen using renewable energy and subsequent synthetic fuels between regions – assessment of technology routes, potentials, and strategies View all articles
Green Tides: The Suez Canal as key hub and green corridor for a hydrogen future between the Middle East and Europe
Provisionally accepted
Tobias Zumbraegel *
Alisa Kegel - Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
The shipping industry faces the dual challenge of reducing emissions to meet net-zero targets by 2050 and transporting green energy sources like hydrogen and its derivatives. Green shipping corridors provide experimental routes for low-carbon solutions, with the Suez Canal uniquely positioned to lead. This paper examines the canal's evolving role as a dynamic energy space, where diverse actors and networks intersect, shaping spatial power relations and aligning with green capitalism interests. It explores the Suez Canal's potential to serve as a model for hydrogen initiatives and its capacity to influence global energy governance and geopolitical dynamics in the transition to a sustainable shipping future. The canal also represents a microcosm of broader global shifts toward a future hydrogen economy, where numerous stakeholders vie for power and influence.This paper analyzes the canal's role as a dynamic energy space, where spatial power relations and green capitalism intersect. It highlights hydrogen initiatives and the canal's potential to influence global energy governance and geopolitical dynamics in the transition to a sustainable shipping future.
Keywords: Suez canal, Hydrogen, Green shipping, Green corridor network, Europe, Middle East, Geopolitics
Received: 03 Dec 2024; Accepted: 17 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zumbraegel and Kegel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Tobias Zumbraegel, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
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