TOKYO, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Global cumulative investment in clean hydrogen projects has topped $130 billion as governments increasingly view the fuel as a tool for energy security and industrial growth alongside decarbonisation, the Hydrogen Council said on Thursday.
The investment in more than 570 committed projects supports about 6.9 million metric tons per year of clean hydrogen production capacity, the industry group said in its Global Hydrogen Compass 2026 report released alongside the Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo.
About 90% of the projects are either under construction or operational, it said.
China accounts for more than half of global committed renewable hydrogen capacity, while Europe ranks second in investment and the U.S. leads in low-carbon hydrogen deployment, the report said.
Policies already in force could support 6 million tons of annual hydrogen demand by 2030, with another 5 million tons possible if governments fully implement existing measures, according to the council.
Yet the sector continues to face significant hurdles. Developers of green hydrogen have scaled back investments and scrapped projects globally as elevated production costs and weak demand for the low-carbon fuel have made many ventures unviable.
Hard-to-electrify industries that were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that the transition to the low-carbon fuel looks prohibitively expensive.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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