New Hydrogen Projects Achieve Record Numbers Globally with Even Greater Urgency for Final Investment Decisions to Attain Net-Zero

(Hydrogen Council) • Hydrogen Council releases its state of the industry report, Hydrogen Insights 2022, on the hydrogen imperative for the global energy transition

The urgency to ramp up investment in industrial-scale hydrogen energy projects is greater than ever, says a new report published today by the Hydrogen Council.

Developed in collaboration with global consultancy McKinsey & Company, the report, Hydrogen Insights 2022, highlights 680 large-scale* hydrogen project proposals have been announced, totaling US$240 billion in direct investment between now and 2030 – an increase of 50% since November 2021 alone.

With this substantial uptake in hydrogen energy project announcements, the next step by industry, investors and governments is to quickly ramp up final investment decisions (FIDs) in order to jump start project construction and operations as quickly as possible.

Yoshinori Kanehana, Chairman of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Co-Chair of the Hydrogen Council, said, “With the growing concerns around energy security, it is clear our economies need hydrogen. But on-the-ground deployment is not moving fast enough and needs to accelerate to realize the benefits of hydrogen. This report proposes a series of priority actions for both policymakers and industry to overcome the challenges and accelerate large-scale hydrogen deployment.

“In addition, the report helps us understand the current state of the global hydrogen economy by highlighting what’s really happening in terms of deployment, financing and investment, as well as offering predictions for the future.”

Tom Linebarger, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board of Cummins Inc. and Co-Chair of the Hydrogen Council, said of the report, “Climate change is the existential crisis of our time, and it will require businesses and governments working together to address it and we must do more now. To move to a zero emissions future, we must have multiple solutions available for our customers who require vastly different applications around the world and hydrogen will play a critically important role.”

Capturing the maximum climate value of hydrogen to deliver the 2050 net zero carbon emissions target requires a tripling of investments in hydrogen projects by 2030 to US$700 billion, equivalent to an additional US$460 billion, the report explains.

The Council report goes on to note that the 2030 hydrogen investment figure is equivalent to less than 15% of investment committed to upstream oil and gas over the past decade.

To meet the planet’s commitment to positively impact climate change, the study makes clear that a rapid increase in hydrogen project investment and on-the-ground deployment is required.

Joint action by the public and private sectors is urgently needed to move from project proposals to FIDs.

Hydrogen Insights 2022 sets out mutually reinforcing priority actions both for policymakers and for industry across 2022 to 2023.

Notes to Editors
* ‘Large-scale’ is defined as projects larger than 1 MW of electrolysis or equivalent.

About the Report
Authored by the Hydrogen Council with McKinsey and Company, Hydrogen Insights 2022 provides the latest fact-based outlook on hydrogen deployment around the world, with the objective to guide regulatory and investment decision-making to scale up the hydrogen energy ecosystem.

The updated data in the report is built on the Hydrogen Insights 2021 report by the Hydrogen Council and McKinsey & Company.

About The Hydrogen Council
The Hydrogen Council is a global CEO-led initiative that brings together leading companies with a united vision and long-term ambition for hydrogen to foster the clean energy transition. The Council understands that hydrogen has a key role to play in reaching global decarbonization goals by helping to diversify energy sources worldwide, to foster business and technological innovation as drivers for long-term economic growth, and to decarbonize especially hard-to-abate industrial sectors.