saw with the internet and mobile devices, it will take some time for the inevitable exponential climb of hydrogen to take hold. Sometimes it is not obvious at the beginning who the winners will be. THE COMPETITIVENESS FACTOR The Hydrogen Council tracks and analyses the economic rationale of more than 35 hydrogen applications. We consider their competitiveness relative to other green or sustainable energy solutions, as well as to conventional energy applications. Those that are competitive in both cases will be the best places to begin. Unsurprisingly, the world’s 359 projects are skewed towards these applications, which include heavy transportation (96) and a mix of hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as fertilizer and steel production (141). We are well under way. We at The Council forecast that the industry will triple between now and 2030, as critical price and cost issues move substantially. It is a fascinating time to be an investor in this sector. The hydrogen opportunity is real, it is large, An article by and it is scaling quickly. DARYL WILSON As with any rapidly emerging sectoral opportunity, investors in hydrogen must navigate carefully to find investments with robust Executive Director support around them and a strong business case behind them, at Hydrogen Council but those that do stand to hold a profitable stake in the planet’s sustainable future. 33