Hydrogen Council


The Hydrogen Council is a global CEO-led initiative of 81 leading energy, transport and industry companies with a united and long-term vision to develop the hydrogen economy. The key ambitions of the Hydrogen Council are to 1) accelerate significant investment in the development and commercialisation of the hydrogen and fuel cell sectors and 2) encourage key stakeholders to increase their backing of hydrogen as part of the future energy mix

Formation

The Hydrogen Council launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 7, 2017. In one of two formal statements made at the Forum, Air Liquide Chairman and CEO Benoît Potier stated that the aim of the initiative is “to explain why hydrogen emerges among the key solutions for the energy transition, in mobility as well as in the power, industrial and residential sectors”.
The 13 inaugural members include Air Liquide, Alstom, Anglo American plc, BMW, Daimler AG, ENGIE, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Royal Dutch Shell, The Linde Group, Total S.A., and Toyota Motor Corporation.

Members

As of June 2019, the Hydrogen Council includes 60 members, made up of 34 Steering members and 26 Supporting members.
Current Steering members include: 3M, Airbus, Air Liquide, Air Products & Chemicals, Alstom, Anglo American plc, Audi, BMW GROUP, BP, China Energy, Cummins, Daimler AG, EDF Energy, ENGIE, Equinor, Faurecia, General Motors, Great Wall Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Iwatani, Johnson Matthey, JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Korea Gas Corporation, Plastic Omnium, Royal Dutch Shell, Sinopec, Robert Bosch GmbH, The Linde Group, thyssenkrupp AG, Total S.A., Toyota and Weichai Power.
Current Supporting members include: AFC Energy, AVL, Ballard Power Systems, Faber Industries, First Element Fuel, W. L. Gore and Associates, Hexagon Composites, Hydrogenics, Itochu Corporation, Marubeni, McPhy, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Mitsui & Co, Nel ASA, NGK, Plug Power, Power Assets Holdings Limited, Re-Fire Technology, Royal Vopak N.V., SinoHytec, Southern California Gas Company, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, Liebherr Group and Toyota Tsusho.

Governance

The Hydrogen Council is steered by a core group of executives who meet annually at a CEO level event.
Ongoing governance is led by two Co-Chairs from different geographies and sectors, elected every two years by the Council's Steering Members. Each year one of the two co-chair mandates are renewed for continuity.
The organisation is steered by two co-secretaries.

Co-Chairs and Co-Secretaries

To date the Co-Chair and Co-Secretary positions have been held by Air Liquide and Toyota, Air Liquide, Hyundai and, Air Liquide and Hyundai.

Partners

As of November 2019, The Hydrogen Council lists its partners as The Center for Hydrogen Safety, The Clean Energy Ministerial, Energy Observer, H2 View, IEA Hydrogen, Mission Innovation and The World Economic Forum.

Reports

The Hydrogen Council has published three reports, in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, that are available on their website.

How Hydrogen Empowers the Energy Transition

Published in January 2017, How Hydrogen Empowers the Energy Transition explores the seven roles of hydrogen in decarbonising major sectors of the economy and considers the policy environment needed to facilitate deployment of hydrogen technology.

Hydrogen Scaling Up: A Sustainable Pathway for the Global Energy Transition

Published in November 2017, Hydrogen, scaling up outlines a comprehensive and qualified roadmap for wide-scale deployment of hydrogen for decarbonisation of transport, industry and buildings, and enabling a renewable energy production and distribution system.
The scenarios outlined in the report suggest that hydrogen technologies could contribute to meeting 18% of the world's final energy demands, avoiding 6 Gt of CO2 emissions, and creating a market with revenues of $2.5 trillion each year while providing 30 million jobs by mid-century. An investment of $280 billion – or annual investments of $20-25 billion until 2030 – would be required to build the hydrogen economy with these benefits.
Following publication of this report, the EU, France, and South Korea published similar analyses, focusing on their specific regions.

Hydrogen Meets Digital

Published in September 2018, Hydrogen Meets Digital investigates the impact of digitisation on energy demand, to establish a dialogue with the ICT sector on how digitisation and hydrogen could complement each other during the energy transition. The report concludes that hydrogen has strong benefits that could enable major digital trends and thus serve as an efficient, zero-emission energy vector.

Events

CEO Events

The Hydrogen Council holds an annual CEO Event, where CEOs and C-suite representatives of member organisations meet to reflect on work of the previous year and to brainstorm strategies to accelerate the Council's mission going forward. To date, three CEO Events have taken place. The first was held at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the second at the COP 23 in Bonn, Germany, and most recently in San Francisco, USA.

Side Events

The Hydrogen Council also hosts a number of side-events that gather CEOs and executives from member organisations, alongside key stakeholders and influencers in the energy conversation. Example of such events include: New York: Investor Day, Celebrating Hydrogen in the Clean Energy Economy, China: Hydrogen Industry Development Innovation Forum, and Korea: International Hydrogen Energy Forum.