New report highlights solutions for clean hydrogen market solutions
- REDAÇÃO H2RADAR
- Mar 27
- 2 min read
The clean hydrogen sector faces significant challenges, but a new report from the Hydrogen Council outlines concrete pathways to enable the industry’s growth. With analytical support from McKinsey & Co, the study highlights that effective implementation of existing policies could enable the uptake of up to 8 million tonnes per year (Mt/a) of clean hydrogen in the European Union, the United States and East Asia by 2030. This volume would represent a significant step forward in the decarbonization of several economic and industrial sectors.
Policy implementation as key to enabling the market
The report "Hydrogen: Closing the Cost Gap" highlights that reducing costs and mandating or incentivizing the use of clean hydrogen directly depends on the implementation of regulatory guidelines in different regions. The transposition of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII) into national legislation, the implementation of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) mechanism in Japan and the Clean Hydrogen Portfolio Standard (CHPS) in South Korea, as well as the implementation of sections of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), are measures highlighted as fundamental to creating a regulatory environment favorable to the sector.
The study also highlights that the expansion of carbon capture and storage (CCS) networks in the US is an essential step to meet the demand for low-carbon refining and ammonia, in addition to enabling greater adoption of hydrogen in emerging sectors such as road transport. In these segments, refueling infrastructure and reducing the production costs of clean hydrogen are critical challenges that need to be addressed.
Expanding hydrogen into new sectors
The report points out that, in addition to the projected demand of 8 Mt/y in established sectors, there is potential to unlock an additional 13 Mt/y through infrastructure improvements and cost reductions. This would be essential to expand the use of clean hydrogen to emerging sectors, such as shipping and aviation, which face greater cost and infrastructure challenges.
In total, the study estimates that prospective demand could reach 34 Mt/y, with 75% of this volume coming from established use cases, such as refining and ammonia, while initial adoption in new segments would account for the remaining 25%. According to Ivana Jemelkova, CEO of the Hydrogen Council, scaling up hydrogen requires not only the implementation of coherent policies, but also a coordinated effort across sectors to enable infrastructure and investment.
