[Hydrogen Council] Global Hydrogen Coalition Quadruples Size in 18 Months

2018.09.05 00:00:00 No. 16033

● The Hydrogen Council experiences a second major wave of growth as member CEOs prepare to convene at this year’s Global Climate Action Summit

Brussels, 05 September 2018 — The Hydrogen Council, a global CEO coalition for hydrogen technologies, is excited to welcome an additional 14 members, a second major wave of growth this year. Eight companies join the group at steering member level: Airbus, Air Products, Cummins, EDF, Johnson Matthey, KOGAS, SINOPEC and thyssenkrupp, alongside six new members at supporting level: AFC Energy, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Re-Fire Technology, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, and Southern California Gas. In addition, Faurecia upgrades its membership to steering level.

As a result, the Hydrogen Council now brings together an impressive group of 53 leading companies, accounting for 3.8 million jobs and €1.8 trillion in revenue from across 11 different countries. The group has more than quadrupled in size since launching at the World Economic Forum just 18 months ago. This rapid expansion – with influential players entering from across geographies and aspects of the value chain – reflects surging interest in global hydrogen deployment.

The announcement comes ahead of the Council’s next annual CEO meeting that will take place during the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco, USA next week. The meeting will see C-suite leaders of Council member companies come together for a day of strategic discussions, action planning and engagement with stakeholders, all geared towards delivering on a joint vision of hydrogen averting 6 Gt of CO2 emissions, creating a $2.5 trillion market and providing employment for more than 30 million people by mid-century. The Council has been also invited to present its work as part of the GCAS programme.

“We are delighted to welcome 14 new CEOs at the Hydrogen Council.” said Benoit Potier, CEO and Chairman of Air Liquide and Co-chair of the Hydrogen Council. “The level of interest in this initiative has exceeded all expectations and the group’s composition – including world leaders in energy, transport, industrial gas and other key areas – shows that global business considers hydrogen a vital part of energy transition efforts. I look forward to a productive meeting in San Francisco.”

Dr. Woong-Chul Yang, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Company and Co-chair of the Hydrogen Council added, “Over the last 18 months, we have brought together a critical mass of members, laid out a clear path forward to realize a global scale up of hydrogen in our “Hydrogen, Scaling Up” study and fostered new actions with governments around the world. There is more to come - look out for more exciting announcements from the Council as we come together during the Global Climate Action Summit next week.”

About the Hydrogen Council
Launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in early 2017, the Hydrogen Council is a first-of-its-kind global CEO initiative to foster the role of hydrogen technologies in the global energy transition. Current members include 33 leading multinationals – 3M, Airbus, Air Liquide, Air Products, Alstom, Anglo American, Audi, BMW GROUP, China Energy, Cummins, Daimler, EDF, ENGIE, Equinor, Faurecia, General Motors, Great Wall Motor, Honda, Hyundai Motor, Iwatani, Johnson Matthey, JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation, Kawasaki, KOGAS, Plastic Omnium, Royal Dutch Shell, Sinopec, The Bosch Group, The Linde Group, thyssenkrupp, Total, Toyota and Weichai– as well as 20 dynamic players from across the value chain – AFC Energy, Ballard Power Systems, Faber Industries, First Element Fuel (True Zero), W. L. Gore, Hexagon Composites, Hydrogenics, Marubeni, McPhy, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Mitsui & Co, Nel Hydrogen, Plug Power, Re-Fire Technology, Royal Vopak, Southern California Gas, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation and Toyota Tsusho. The coalition collectively represents total revenues of over €1.8 trillion and close to 3.8 million jobs around the world.

The Hydrogen Council has published two studies to date, How hydrogen empowers the energy transition (January 2017) exploring the role of hydrogen in the energy transition, including its potential, recent achievements, and challenges to its deployment and Hydrogen, scaling up (November 2017) presenting the first comprehensive vision of the long-term potential of hydrogen and a roadmap for deployment. To find out more: www.hydrogencouncil.com.