The Emerging Hydrogen Economy: Update

In December 2019, we published an overview of the emerging hydrogen economy. Since then, the world has changed dramatically with the rapidly evolving crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic and commencement of the oil price war, both of which have wreaked havoc in global energy markets. In this article, we will consider the impact of recent events on the hydrogen economy and provide an update on some of the key developments and new projects in the sector.

Where Are We Now?

Hydrogen is gaining increasing prominence as a key element in the future global energy mix. In a recent report published by a coalition of 19 major oil and gas, automotive, fuel cell and hydrogen companies (including Chevron, Shell, Engie, Hyundai, Microsoft, Toyota and Daimler AG), hydrogen is considered to have the potential to generate US$140 billion per year of revenue in the United States alone by 2030 along with 700,000 jobs, rising to US$750 billion per year and 3,400,000 jobs by 2050¹.