Why the Global Hydrogen Compass points to progress

Pamela Largue (0:19)

There have also been many project delays and cancellations caused by policy uncertainty and high costs associated with project development.

To answer this question, I speak with Ivana Jemelkova, CEO of the Hydrogen Council. Ivana doesn't sugarcoat when it comes to the hard realities facing the sector, such as unlocking demand, reducing costs, and building infrastructure. However, there are encouraging signs of growth across the world, with projects moving off the drawing board and into construction. Furthermore, Ivana highlights that hydrogen is no longer being discussed purely as a decarbonization tool. Increasingly, it sits at the intersection of energy security, industrial competitiveness, resilience and the future of global trade. I'm Pamela Largue, and this is the Energy Transitions Podcast.

Ivana, thank you so much for joining me today. You recently released the Global Hydrogen Compass 2026 report. What is the biggest change in the global hydrogen landscape that you are seeing compared to previous years?

Ivana Jemelkova (1:33)

Well, thank you so much, Pamela. It's really fantastic to be here with you and our listeners today. As we all know, it's a very exciting, critical, dynamic time in energy and in hydrogen in particular. So really delighted to have a conversation with you today and explore that together. Now, in terms of the biggest shift we are seeing in hydrogen, let me maybe start with an example, a little story. This week I've been on almost nonstop travel because the hydrogen sector is celebrating various big announcements.

Just yesterday, actually, last night, I came back from Spain, which saw the groundbreaking for Europe's largest renewable hydrogen project, ONUBA, in the south of Spain. 300 megawatts, 1 billion investment. I mean, this is a really big deal.

It was incredible to see what it actually takes and what is actually happening. CEOs side by side with government leaders, Pedro Sanchez, the Prime Minister was there. The whole supply chain aligned, and what we really saw there was steel in the ground, industrial production, industrial installation. And I think that's incredible in many ways. It's the perfect illustration of the biggest message from the Global Hydrogen Podcast 2026 And that is the industry is in full built mode. That means we're past announcements, we are past explorations, we are building. And places like ONUBA are the perfect illustration of what's going on.

Pamela Largue (3:08)

This is a great segue to my next question, because the report identifies $130 billion in committed clean hydrogen investment across more than 570 projects. So how much of this represents a genuine transition from announcements to actual deployment?

Ivana Jemelkova (3:27)

Well, thank you, Pamela. And if you hear excitement in my voice, it's because I'm genuinely thrilled for what's happening. It's really inspiring.

But let's set the emotions to the side. So there's been enough hype and doom and gloom and all kinds of noise. And I think it's time to stop that and really look at the facts. And this is where our Global Hydrogen Compass comes in.

We have been tracking for the last six years, every publicly announced project out there. And the data is so incredibly clear. Some 2000 projects announced, great. That's been the case for some time. We know that projects are announced, but the real shift is happening further down the pipeline. 570 projects, exactly as you just said, not just announced, but really past final investment decision. And perhaps more importantly, 90% of those are either in construction or in operation. So the image of Onuba, the shovels in the ground, the steel in the ground, is what's happening in hydrogen right now. And I think that's incredibly exciting. And perhaps one more number to illustrate the progress we are making is the operational capacity. So again, where is hydrogen actually being produced? Where is it being used? And we have nearly doubled operational capacity compared to last year. And based on the developments in the pipeline, we have every reason to believe we will double it again in the next 12 months. So that's real. And that's way past the announcements.

That's way past the hype. We are really building.

Pamela Largue (4:58)

I would like to look at the regional development, specifically, because obviously, China, Europe and the US are emerging as distinct hydrogen leaders with different strengths, different approaches. What can we learn from these regional differences? And where do you expect the strongest growth?

Ivana Jemelkova (5:14)

I love this question, Pamela. Let me take you on a little tour of the world. So with your permission, let's do the first step in China. Because China is really on top or top of our charts. China has made a strategic choice when it comes to hydrogen. It has placed hydrogen as one of the key growth areas in its most recent five-year plan. And it has put forward really ambitious targets, both in terms of volumes, cost of hydrogen, and other key metrics. And right now, they are leading in terms of renewable hydrogen capacity and other key metrics.