Hydrogen in North-Western Europe

Countries in north-western Europe (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom) have made significant progress at a national level and have developed their visions about the role that hydrogen should play in their individual long-term energy strategies. From the analysis in this report, CIEP and the IEA have identified four priorities to be addressed in regional dialogues:

Build on the large unused potential to cooperate on hydrogen in the north-western European region, which has already cooperative platforms in place (such as The North Seas Energy Cooperation), to identify opportunities to develop cross-border initiatives (like the Important Projects of Common European Interest) and projects that could facilitate the development of an integrated hydrogen market in the region.

Identify what is needed to develop an integrated regional market. This could include development of a common regulatory framework and standards, as well as support mechanisms to reduce risk and coordinate the development of critical infrastructures.

Develop supporting schemes to advance technology frontiers and market size scale-up of all steps in the value chain in a coordinated way. Build on strengths of each country to develop an optimal distribution of supply and demand centres for hydrogen in the region and address early potential bottlenecks in infrastructure or manufacturing capacity.

Design a strategy to address emissions from existing hydrogen producing assets while simultaneously develop new production capacities for low-carbon hydrogen to meet demands originated in new applications.