Hyundai Motor Group executive vice chairman (EVC) and Hydrogen Council co-chair Euisun Chung opened the Hydrogen Council’s third annual CEO Meeting in Paris, recommending three key action actions: reduce cost through technological innovation, create a comprehensive safety management system and foster broad acceptance of hydrogen.

The comment came as the Hydrogen Council (pictured) published a new report, Path to Hydrogen Competitiveness: A Cost Perspective, demonstrating that the cost of hydrogen solutions will fall sharply within the next decade, and sooner than previously expected.

As scale up of production, distribution and equipment manufacturing continues, cost is projected to decrease by up to 50 per cent by 2030 for a wide range of applications, making hydrogen financially competitive with other low-carbon alternatives and, in some cases, even conventional options.

Commissioned by the Hydrogen Council and delivered by McKinsey & Company in partnership with E4tech, the report shows significant cost reductions expected across more than 20 different hydrogen applications, such as long-distance and heavy-duty transportation, industrial heating, and balancing of the power system, comprising roughly 15 per cent of global energy consumption.

To deliver on this opportunity, however, supporting policies will be required in key geographies, together with investment support of around $70bn in the lead up to 2030. While this figure is sizable, it accounts for less than 5 per cent of annual global spending on energy. For comparison, support provided to renewables in Germany totalled roughly $30bn in 2019.

The Hydrogen Council hopes that the report’s findings will not only increase public awareness about the potential of hydrogen to power everyday lives, but also debunk the myth that a hydrogen economy is unattainable due to cost.

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