Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean-Tech Cooperation Initiative (T-MED)

Context

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region holds some of the world’s most abundant and cost-competitive renewable-energy resources. With solar and wind generation costs 35% lower^[1] than in the EU and continuing to fall, alongside promising geothermal potential and emerging offshore wind prospects, the MENA region could become a cornerstone of the Euro-Mediterranean green transition. Its technical renewable-generation potential is estimated at over 2,300 GW^[2], more than twice the EU’s current installed capacity, underscoring the strategic scale of this opportunity.

Strengthened cooperation to tap this renewable energy potential can help our partner countries and the EU to address shared challenges, such as rising energy prices, dependence on fossil fuels, lack of competitiveness, supply-chain vulnerabilities and climate change. Recurring to renewable energies at large scale is particularly important to meet domestic demand at the southern shore of the Mediterranean which may rise by 50% by 2035^[3], driven by cooling, desalination and digitalisation. At the same time, Europe targets an increase economy-wide electrification rate from 21.3% today to 32% in 2030^[4].

The Pact for the Mediterranean offers the overarching framework to promote renewable energy and clean tech cooperation, grounded in shared ownership and responsibility, while the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean-Tech Cooperation Initiative (T-MED), as one of the Pact’s central pillars, provides a means of turning political commitment into concrete action.

Objectives

T-MED aims to deliver a triple win for the region:

• Inclusive socio-economic development through investment, value creation, skills development and job creation.
• Energy security and industrial competitiveness via diversified, affordable and renewable energy.
• Accelerated decarbonisation through renewable electricity, renewable hydrogen, efficiency and clean-tech deployment.

For doing so, the EU will work hand in hand with its Southern Mediterranean partners to:

• help reduce political and regulatory risks for companies
• Mobilise shared investment
• enable regulatory convergence
• support industrial partnerships
• strengthen skills development

How will T-MED be implemented?

To achieve these objectives, T-MED seeks to mobilise tens of billions of euros in private investment over the coming years. To this end, the EU will establish the T-MED Investment Platform, designed to develop a consolidated pipeline of high-impact renewable energy, electricity grid and clean tech manufacturing projects. It will link these projects with appropriate financing by coordinating blended financing solutions, guarantees and technical assistance provided by international financial institutions, national development banks and private investors, thereby ensuring risk-sharing and improving project bankability.

In this context, proactively engaging with Gulf countries will also offer a critical opportunity to harness their strong investment footprint in the energy sector across the MENA region and to support the scale-up of strategic projects under T-MED, when mutually beneficial for the EU and MENA partners. 

Partners

Regional platforms, such as:

• MEDREG (Mediterranean Regulators for Electricity and Gas)
• MED-TSO (Transmission System Operators)
• MED-GEM (for energy market integration)
• PEEB-MED (Programme for Energy Efficiency in Buildings – Mediterranean)

International Partners

• IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency)
• OMEC (Organisation Méditerranéenne de L’energie et du Climat)