Uzbekistan set ambitious targets to increase the share of renewable energy to 54% of electricity generation by 2030 and to support longterm decarbonization objectives. This project seeks to establish an ecosystem and foundation for clean hydrogen development in Uzbekistan by strengthening policy and regulatory frameworks, enhancing the capacity of national public sector stakeholders, and progressively creating the conditions necessary to enable the uptake of investments in clean hydrogen sector.

National clean hydrogen roadmap and regulatory readiness strengthened.

This intervention will assess Uzbekistan’s current hydrogen policy, institutional mandates, standards, incentives, safety requirements, certification needs, and coordination arrangements. It will benchmark relevant international experience, including Korea’s clean hydrogen policy, certification, safety, and industrial ecosystem, and translate lessons into Uzbekistan-ready recommendations. The roadmap will identify phased priorities for 2026-2030, 2030-2037, and 2037-2050, including a clear definition of clean hydrogen tailored to the Uzbekistan context, potential pilots, demand sectors, infrastructure needs, water-energy-market nexus risks, and investment conditions.

Public-sector capacity and stakeholder coordination enhanced.

This intervention will map key institutions, public stakeholders, potential offtakers, technology providers, investors, and development partners. It will identify capacity gaps across policy design, project development, certification, safety, environmental management, Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) analysis, and financing. Tailored workshops and the Korea knowledge exchange will strengthen the ability of public officials to regulate, coordinate, and prepare hydrogen projects based on real cases rather than generic training modules.

Clean hydrogen investment pipeline and project readiness improved.

This intervention will identify and structure one priority investment concept, including project scope, value proposition, technology options, potential sites, offtake logic, environmental and economic benefits, enabling conditions, associated risk analysis, and achievable financing options. The key deliverable, project concept paper will, therefore, provide a bridge from technical assistance to follow-on investment mobilization, including potential engagement with international entities, private-sector partners, development finance institutions, and GGGI’s other global investment opportunities. To make the concept operational and investment-ready, the project will prepare a light pre-feasibility structure covering demand and offtake options, power and water sourcing, indicative costs logic, implementation risks, procedural needs, safeguards considerations, possible grant or concessional finance windows, and a clear next-step pathway for project preparation. This will help convert the roadmap from a policy document into a transaction pipeline.

As Uzbekistan faces rising energy demand, it is imperative for the country to secure sufficient and sustainable energy sources, foster global market-competitiveness in various sectors while meeting (climate-related) trade measures and standards. At the same time, Uzbekistan has strong renewable resources, existing gas and industrial infrastructure, and concentrated demand in fertilizer and chemical clusters that can provide an early market for clean hydrogen and derivatives such as green ammonia.

Uzbekistan has already taken several initial steps. PP-5063 and related government measures support renewable energy and hydrogen development, and the ACWA Power green hydrogen initiative in Chirchiq provides a first practical entry point for project-level learning on concessional financing of a green hydrogen project. However, the market architecture remains incomplete. Uzbekistan does not yet have a government-endorsed national clean hydrogen roadmap, a dedicated hydrogen law, a formal clean hydrogen definition or certification system, clear cost breakdown benchmarks that reflect water and infrastructure constraints that are especially critical in this double-landlocked country, or a structured inter-ministerial coordination mechanism. This KGNDTF project, therefore, serves as an enabling foundation to formulate a coherent implementation architecture.

1) On April 2, the project had an official launch event, inviting relevant stakeholders to introduce the project and secure their commitment and support, and present the roadmap development approach, introducing three phased milestones in the roadmap with a phased expansion plan (i.e. Navoi to Karakalpakstan).

2)From April 25^th – May 1^st 2026, GGGI invited five colleagues from the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan (MOE) to Korea to meet with key policy makers such as the Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Environment of Korea and the city of Pyeongtaek. The tour also included meetings with leading hydrogen companies and visits to hydrogen-related facilities, including production sites in Daebudo (RE-based hydrogen production), Wanju, and Pyeongtaek.

3) Data collection and consultations are ongoing to compile and review the datasets for evidence-based roadmap development and tailor-made capacity building workshop preparation.