ALBERT

Description: Germany, the European Union member state with the largest fiscal space and its leading manufacturer of industrial goods, is pursuing an ambitious hydrogen strategy aiming at establishing itself as a major technology provider and importer of green hydrogen. The success of its hydrogen strategy represents not only a key element in realizing the European vision of climate neutrality but also a central driver of an emerging global hydrogen economy. This article provides a detailed review of German policy, highlighting its prominent international dimension and its implications for the development of a global renewable hydrogen economy. It provides an overview of the strategy's central goals and how these have evolved since the launch of the strategy in 2020. Next, it moves on to provide an overview of the strategy's main areas of intervention and highlights corresponding policy instruments. For this, we draw on a comprehensive assessment of hydrogen policy instruments, which have been systematically analyzed and coded. This was complemented by a detailed analysis of policy documents and information gathered in six interviews with government officials and staff of key implementing agencies. The article places particular emphasis on the strategy's international dimension. While less significant in financial terms than domestic hydrogen-related spending, it represents a defining feature of the German hydrogen strategy, setting it apart from strategies in other major economies. The article closes with a reflection on the key features of the strategy compared to other important countries, identifies gaps of the strategy and discusses important avenues for future research.

Description: The USA and the EU proposed a ‘Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum (GASSA)’ as the first step towards a carbon club for clean steel in 2021. Yet, visions about the core elements of GASSA, a common standard for green steel and a tariff on ‘dirty’ steel, remain far apart. This comment discusses the international developments, domestic priorities, and structural conditions that enable and constrain the negotiations on GASSA. Ultimately, we argue that if the USA and the EU at least conclude an agreement with a definition for green steel and provide an opportunity for including further partners, this initiative might become a valuable endeavor for industrial decarbonization.

Description: In this paper, the authors discuss the role of China in the emerging geopolitics of hydrogen. It begins with a review of China's external energy policy and its evolution over the past decades, highlighting China's transition to a net-energy importer as an important inflection point in that process. It then goes on to describe the main pillars of China's national hydrogen policy. Building on this the paper provides and overview of China's external hydrogen policy and how this aligns with both its broader energy foreign policy and its hydrogen policy objectives. The paper finds that China’s hydrogen strategy – both internal and external – are still at an emergent stage. National targets remain modest, and policy remains ambiguous regarding the preferred production pathway. China’s long-term vision clearly emphasizes the role of renewable hydrogen to help balance an energy system dominated by wind and solar energy. However, current policy provides ample space for the promotion of other forms of hydrogen production. Rather, than a strong, centralized policy approach, local and provincial governments along with SOEs have been driving investment and policy experimentation in the sector, which includes efforts to boost fossil-based hydrogen production.