ING – Announced hydrogen budgets by governments, governments shaping their hydrogen ambitions.
Many governments across the globe have announced ambitious hydrogen plans to decarbonise economies and increase gas independence. Big money is invested in hydrogen production, infrastructure and demand. Most countries focus on green hydrogen despite the better economics of grey and blue hydrogen
Governments across the globe present their hydrogen budgets
The Hydrogen Council, an international organisation created by the CEOs of a number of leading companies, believes that hydrogen could meet 18% of total global energy demand in the long term and create a €2 trillion market.
But for the moment, the market is still in its infancy and needs a lot of policy support. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, as of July 2021, 43 countries have released or are about to release hydrogen roadmaps.
Some governments have announced big numbers, like Germany, Spain, France and the United States. But these numbers are extremely hard to compare, as time horizons are difficult to interpret, some of the budgets involve private investments too.
The amounts are often not yet backed with policy instruments and the numbers might target different parts of the hydrogen value chain (infrastructure only versus stimulation of hydrogen production as well as demand).
Announced hydrogen budgets by governments
In this article we take a closer look at hydrogen policies in Europe, Asia and North America.
The European Union aims for 13-14% of hydrogen in energy mix by 2050
In July 2020, the European Commission revealed its hydrogen strategy with the Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate-Neutral Europe publication. The European Union wants to have a net-zero carbon economy by 2050 and believes that, while renewables will account for a large part of the energy decarbonisation in the future, hydrogen has an important role to play.
The goal of the plan is to increase hydrogen’s share of the market from less than 2% in 2020 up to 13-14% by 2050. The most optimistic scenario forecasts a hydrogen share within the energy mix of up to 24% by 2050.
The European hydrogen plan includes a three phase roadmap
Phase one: from 2020 up to 2024, the objective is to install at least 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolysers in the EU and to produce up to 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen. The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, which brings together industry, public authorities and civil society, will develop an investment agenda and concrete projects.
Phase two: running from 2025 to 2030, the scale-up of hydrogen production, distribution and use is aiming at the installation of at least 40 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolysers to produce 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen.
Phase three: from 2030 onwards, green hydrogen should reach maturity and should be used in all sectors that are currently harder to decarbonise, such as manufacturing, aviation, trucks, shipping and buildings.
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Governments are shaping their hydrogen ambitions, October 28, 2021
