S. PENSON, Gulf Energy Information, London, England 

Europe must seize the moment and accelerate the deployment of clean hydrogen (H2) at scale, with a focus on locking in the best near-term opportunities rather than chasing perfection, according to Ivana Jemelkova, CEO of the Hydrogen Council, an industry association.  

Europe’s failure to move forward at pace will put at risk the extensive investment that has already materialized in areas such as electrolyzer manufacturing, H2 production and fuel cells, she said in an interview during the Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Technology World Expo 2025 in Hamburg, Germany. 

“Wake up Europe, please, this really is the moment,” Jemelkova said. “We are going around in circles and hesitating. We must be practical and pragmatic to get something done. Instead of trying to realize a huge vision from the get-go, we need to go after the near-term opportunities that show that it works, and start the snowball—it is a case of go big or go home.” 

Jemelkova drew contrasts with the approach in China, where policymakers have allowed companies the space to adopt more of a pragmatic step-by-step approach to the build-out of the H2 economy.  

China leads the world in clean H2 investment, with about $33 B in committed capital, according to the Hydrogen Council. North America ranks second, with $23 B, while Europe, previously the global leader, has slipped to third with about $19 B. 

“Here, we start with the perfect. In China, they start with the possible and get to the perfect,” she said. “In China, they are building an industry that now has the power to take on the world.”  

The key concern for global H2 sector CEOs is the slow development of demand, according to a recent survey conducted by the Hydrogen Council as part of its new Global Hydrogen Compass report. 

Demand is growing, with 3.6 MMtpy of supply now under firm offtake contracts, according to the Hydrogen Council. “That is a good start, but the volumes now need to double and triple,” said Jemelkova. About a third of this offtake is in new use cases for H2, including power generation, steel and mobility. Mobility applications are growing, especially in China and South Korea. The demand side lags the supply side, where about 6 MMtpy of production has been committed to, according to the Hydrogen Council.  

One of the misconceptions about clean H2 is that it already has access to all the support it needs, Jemelkova said. However, this is not the case in reality. “Everything we need seems to be there, but it is on paper. In reality, the policies have not really been implemented, and the money has not come through to businesses.”  

Another 8 MMtpy of demand could be unlocked if existing policies in Europe, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. were fully implemented to support business cases, she said. 

U.S. under scrutiny. Nowhere has H2 policy come under greater scrutiny lately than in the U.S., where the window for projects seeking to qualify for the key 45V production tax credit has been shortened under changes made by the Trump administration.   

A significant number of projects are expected to fall away because of this change to the 45V timing. However, Jemelkova said the U.S. remained very well placed to be a major supplier of clean H2 to markets such as Europe, Japan and South Korea. The 45V remains one of the key policies which are fundamental to the “moment of lift” the clean H2 sector needs.   

“Hydrogen fits perfectly with the Trump administration’s agenda of energy dominance and energy abundance,” she said. “It is another molecule-based product that the U.S. can produce in volume and ship out to the world at very competitive prices.” 

Missed opportunity. In a setback for the deployment of clean fuels, including H2-based derivatives, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) postponed talks over the implementation of the shipping industry’s decarbonization strategy. 

Jemelkova acknowledged that the breakdown of talks was a setback and a missed opportunity. “The biggest enemy right now is uncertainty, and we were hoping to have certainty, [and] guidance from the IMO on what to do next,” she said. “But it is not the end of the road, the overall decarbonization strategy remains in place. Nothing has changed on the targets, but it is about how we get there and how quickly we get there.”