The time has come for hydrogen and the International Energy Agency (IEA) will do all it can to support countries in seizing the opportunity, according to its Executive Director.
Writing on his Linkedin page on 16 October, Fatih Birol explained that hydrogen has been ignored for too long by the energy sector, despite the important role it can play in addressing environmental challenges. Although momentum is growing, there remains a “massive amount of work” that needs to be done for hydrogen to reach its potential and contribute effectively to international climate efforts.
Considering this, the IEA is set to deepen and expand its work on hydrogen. Birol outlined how this includes closely collaborating with the Japanese government on next year’s Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting and by starting to publish a new Global Hydrogen Review from next year, serving as hydrogen’s “North Star”. It will assess the impact of all government and industry plans, look at how actual on-the-ground progress compares to stated ambitions from around the world, help decision makers to finetune their strategies and drive progress in investment.
Birol stressed the next decade will be “critical” for hydrogen’s long-term success, while assuring that the IEA is committed to helping governments and industries to make their own choices for this “important technology opportunity”.
