Council says global clean hydrogen investments top $130 billion as energy security push is pushed.

The Hydrogen Council announced on Thursday that the global cumulative investment in clean?hydrogen?projects had topped $130billion. Governments are increasingly viewing the fuel as an instrument?for energy?security and?industrial?growth?alongside?decarbonisation.

In its Global Hydrogen Compass 2026, released alongside the Hydrogen Ministerial Meeting held in Tokyo, the industry group stated that the investment in over 570 projects committed supports approximately 6,9 million metric tonnes per year of clean hydrogen production capacity.

It said that 90% of the projects were either in construction or operational.

The report stated that China is responsible for more than half of the global commitment to renewable hydrogen capacity. Europe ranks second in terms of investment, and the U.S. leads the way in low-carbon deployment.

According to the council, policies already in place could support 6,000,000 tons of annual demand for hydrogen by 2030. Another?5,000,000 tons is possible if governments implement all existing measures.

Yet, the sector continues to face major challenges. Globally, developers of 'green' hydrogen have cut back on investments and abandoned projects due to high production costs?and weak demand?for the low-carbon fuel.

The transition to green hydrogen is prohibitively expensive for industries that are hard-to-electrify, such as long-distance transport and steelmaking.

(source: Reuters)