‘Our Mission is No Emissions’ with Cornelius Matthes, CEO of Dii Desert Energy The team had the honor of speaking with Cornelius Matthes, the CEO of Dii Desert Energy and the MENA Hydrogen Alliance. A leader in renewable energy, especially EMEA, we chat about his life trajectory, what makes a good conference, or party, for that matter 😊 and how the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) partners benefit from working with the organization. We also discuss the unfolding clean energy revolution and ways to accelerate change. About Cornelius: Cornelius Matthes is a well-respected leader and investor in the renewable energy industry, building several successful clean energy businesses and start-ups within the Middle East and Africa. He has extensive board level experience from 10 years at Deutsche Bank (among others, youngest board member in Deutsche Bank Italy Group) and several leading renewable energy organizations and associations via pro bono work as well as different startup companies. By building the international shareholder and partner network of Desertec Dii, Cornelius is at the forefront of the renewable energy revolution in North Africa and the Middle East. A keen entrepreneur and investor in emerging markets with recognitions such as “Solar Pioneer 2015” for the Middle East and the Visionary CleanTech Influencer of The Year 2022 by World Cleantech Awards. He lectures at several universities including St. Gallen and is a regular speaker at international conferences. He holds an MBA (Dipl. Kaufmann) from University of Passau, and speaks German, English, Italian, French and Russian. His experience ranges from M&A transactions, asset management, developing utility scale renewable energy projects (including mid-market with private PPAs), pay-as-you-go solar to energy efficiency, including ESCO projects, clean hydrogen, ammonia and new business models. Some of the projects and companies were executed in challenging settings or countries. He has led sizable organizations both in startup environments and blue-chip companies and has raised funds from angel investments to US$100M projects with institutional investors. About Dii Desert Energy: Dii Desert Energy is an independent, international, industry network operating from Dubai. With its footprint in MENA, it is connecting people, countries and clean energy markets globally, paving the way for “net zero emission”, secure and affordable energy from the deserts. Dii Desert Energy aims at transforming the energy systems in desert areas of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in a holistic way, benefitting from the knowledge, expertise, and business connections from its professional staff and partners, including a top-level Advisory Board. Dii’s team consists of well-respected senior professionals in the international energy market, with experience in (green) energy industry management, projects, investments, regulations and public policy. Dii GmbH, the legal entity of Dii Desert Energy, was launched in 2009 as an industry initiative in Germany (formerly ‘Desertec Industrial Initiative’) for accelerating the energy transition in the MENA region and export of “net zero emission” energy. Dii believes that once the domestic needs have been sufficiently satisfied with emission free energy, MENA will become a ‘Powerhouse’ of clean energy, both electrical power (electrons) and gases, fuels or solids (molecules including hydrogen), serving the world energy markets. In 2019, Dii launched the MENA Hydrogen Alliance, which brings together private and public sector actors as well as science and academia to kick-start green hydrogen economies. The Alliance provides a platform for partners to meet and discuss pathways forward, to formulate common studies and connect producers and off-takers. The alliance acts as an impartial advisor to promote initiatives in the region, elaborates (potential) business cases and structure for large projects, proposes the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks, and educates different stakeholders on all relevant aspects of the hydrogen value chain, from ‘source to sink’, including export of virtual (renewable and carbon characteristics) and physical energy carriers. In 2023, Dii launched a new initiative, the Zero Emissions Traders Alliance (ZETA), based in Dubai. Its aim is to create a global platform for clean energy traders, giving substance to Dii’s “no emissions” mission. ZETA will, thus, help energy markets and energy traders to reduce and avoid “greenhouse” effects based on market principles. In this context, Dii Desert Energy is giving guidance to climate neutral energy traders, energy suppliers and the off-takers community with a footprint in MENA. Dii Desert Energy is connecting the regional and international industry with authorities and institutions and focuses in particular on practical conditions along the emission-free energy value chains. Dii’s platform of more than 120 companies from over 36 countries is mobilizing top executives, government decision makers, R&D institutions and academia. -- Links: Dii - https://dii-desertenergy.org