starting about 15 years ago. At the same “We need to push for convergence of standards time, we need to improve the efficiency now, for example on cross-border hydrogen trade of hydrogen technologies by pushing innovation to make hydrogen more through re-purposed gas pipelines, before vested cost-competitive and achieve significant interests can slow down the process.” penetration in key applications. That calls for standardization of technologies driven by collective cooperation on big R&D minimum standards at least, to facilitate Will that lead to regulation? programmes. Upscaling and efficiency and accelerate global trade. Similarly, we Definitely. Governments and regulators will gains both require stronger international need to tackle possible tariff and non-tariff set market rules on which companies can cooperation. trade barriers to allow countries to handle do what, and on access to infrastructure the increasing global hydrogen trade and storage capacity. That process also Do we need a global hydrogen market? smoothly. That’s what we need to make will be very much helped by strong Eventually. First we need to create clean hydrogen a global commodity. international cooperation, since too regional markets in Europe, Asia, North much regulatory divergence will cause America, and elsewhere. Then we can What international cooperation market fragmentation, higher costs, and push to connect those regional markets is needed to facilitate mass-scale slower scaling up. We need to push more closely into a global market. The production? for convergence of standards now, model here is liquefied natural gas (LNG), The 21 countries, including the EC, in for example on cross-border hydrogen which saw regional markets increasingly the IPHE intergovernmental network are trade through re-purposed gas pipelines, link through global trade. This process currently working on a methodology to before vested interests can slow down the took many decades, but hopefully we can calculate the carbon footprint of hydrogen process. go faster with clean hydrogen. If regional production. Hopefully we can reach markets are established based on global international consensus soon. It sounds How are we doing? standards, globalization will of course be technical, but buyers will want to know I am really hopeful. Every day I see faster and less costly. how green their hydrogen is, and an signs that the urgency of the climate We can learn from Australia’s strategy international standard must underpin challenge is increasingly acknowledged of ‘shipping sunshine’ around the world the global market I’ve been talking by governments and companies around in the form of liquid green hydrogen, about. We need at least to agree on the world. Even the financial sector is now green ammonia, or another carrier how you calculate the carbon intensity pushing the energy transition to Net Zero in technology. The intent is to supply of hydrogen! With that, a market 2050, and faster than anyone anticipated demand centres in Asia and Europe. The for certificates could and should be just two years ago. The countries of first international value chain projects developed. It would hep epeetration the IPHE are working together to find will offer valuable examples. We do of clean hydrogen, and support price consensus, but the job is not done. We need internationalization of standards, discovery on exchanges. need to keep pushing. 35