In 14 sessions, experts discussed topics such as hydrogen’s role as a tradable commodity, strategies to achieve Europe’s ambitious goals to ramp up production capacities, and implications of the commitments from COP26 for the hydrogen economy. The Global Alliance Powerfuels was an official partner of the event and one of our experts presented insights on the role of powerfuels hubs in reaching international climate targets at the conference.

Hydrogen is transforming the global energy landscape and no more so than in Europe. In 2020, the European Commission placed hydrogen at the forefront of Europe's green recovery with the publication of its Hydrogen Strategy, setting the goal to install 40GW of electrolyser capacity within Europe by 2030.

However, challenges with regard to bringing down costs and establishing viable business cases remain, and the infrastructure requirements are colossal. To build the hydrogen economy in Europe, investments of up to €470 billion will be needed in the next 30 years.

The inaugural Reuters Events: Hydrogen Economy Europe gathered industry leaders across the public and private sector to address these challenges head. Covering policy & regulation, scaling up production, infrastructure, and demand in end-use sectors, attendees were provided with critical information and partnerships to collaboratively address the market ramp-up in Europe.

Friederike Altgelt, expert from the Global Alliance Powerfuels’ project team, spoke at the conference on Friday, December 3, in the session on hydrogen hubs, discussing the expected development of powerfuels trade until 2030 and beyond, as well as approaches to harmonise production requirements to ensure the sustainability of renewable hydrogen and its derivatives.