The World Hydrogen Council is a global CEO-led initiative of 132 leading energy, transport, industry and investment companies with a united and long-term vision to develop the hydrogen economy. The key ambitions of the Hydrogen Council are to 1) accelerate significant investment in the development and commercialization of the hydrogen and fuel cell sectors and 2) encourage key stakeholders to increase their backing of hydrogen as part of the future energy mix.
Formation
The Hydrogen Council launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 7, 2017. In one of two formal statements made at the Forum, Air Liquide Chairman and CEO Benoît Potier stated that the aim of the initiative is “to explain why hydrogen emerges among the key solutions for the energy transition, in mobility as well as in the power, industrial and residential sectors”.
The 13 inaugural members included Air Liquide, Alstom, Anglo American plc, BMW, Daimler AG, ENGIE, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Royal Dutch Shell, The Linde Group, Total S.A., and Toyota Motor Corporation.
Members
, the Hydrogen Council consists of 132 members separated into three groups: the Steering Group, the Supporting Group and the Investor Group.
Steering Group (52 members)
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
The Anschutz Corporation
Airbus
Air Liquide
Air Products
Alstom
Anglo American
Audi AG
BMW GROUP
BP
Bosch
CF Industries
Chemours
China Energy
CMA CGM
CNH Industrial (via IVECO) Cummins Daimler EDF ENEOS Corporation ENGIE Equinor Faurecia General Motors Great Wall Motor Honda Honeywell Hyundai Motor Iwatani Johnson Matthey Kawasaki KOGAS Linde Michelin Microsoft MSC Group OCI NV Plastic Omnium Saudi Aramco (via the Aramco Overseas Company) Schaeffler Group Shell SABIC Sasol Solvay Siemens Energy Sinopec thyssenkrupp Total Energies Toyota Uniper Weichai Wood
Supporting Group (68 members)
3M
ACME
AFC Energy
AVL
Baker Hughes
Ballard Power Systems
Black & Veatch
Bureau Veritas
cellcentric
Chart Industries
Chevron
Clariant
Cryogenmash
Delek US Holdings
Eberspächer
ElringKlinger
Enbridge Gas
Faber Cylinders
First Element Fuel (True Zero) Fortescue Metals Group Fuel Cell Energy Galp W. L. Gore Haldor Topsoe Hexagon Composites Howden ILJIN Hysolus Indian Oil Corporation ITOCHU Corporation John Cockerill Komatsu Liebherr MAHLE MAN Energy Solutions MANN+HUMMEL Marubeni Matrix Service Company McDermott McPhy Mitsubishi Corporation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Mitsui & Co Nel Hydrogen NGK Spark Plug Co. Nikola Motor NYK Line Parker Hannifin Corporation PETRONAS Plug Power Port of Rotterdam Power Assets Holdings Re-Fire Technology Reliance Industries Limited Sinocat SinoHytec Sinoma Science & Technology Snam Southern California Gas Southern Company Subsea 7 Sumitomo Corporation Technip Energies Tokyo Gas Toyota Tsusho TÜV SÜD Umicore Westport Fuel System Woodside Energy
Investor Group (12 members)
Antin Infrastructure Partners
Barclays
BNP Paribas
Crédit Agricole
FiveT Hydrogen
GIC
Mubadala Investment Company
Natixis
Providence Asset Group
Société Générale
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) Temasek
Governance
The Hydrogen Council is steered by a core group of executives who meet annually at a CEO level event.
Ongoing governance is led by two Co-Chairs from different geographies and sectors, elected every two years by the council's Steering Members. Each year one of the two co-chair mandates are renewed for continuity. The organisation is steered by two co-secretaries (representatives of the two Co-Chairs).
Co-Chairs and Co-Secretaries
To date the co-chair and Co-Secretary positions have been held by Air Liquide and Toyota (2017), Air Liquide, Hyundai (2018) and, Air Liquide and Hyundai (2019).
Partners
As of November 2019, The Hydrogen Council lists its partners as The Center for Hydrogen Safety (CHS), The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), Energy Observer, View, IEA Hydrogen, Mission Innovation (MI) and The World Economic Forum.
Reports
The Hydrogen Council has published three reports, in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, that are available on their website.
In August 2021, Reuters reported that the Hydrogen Council said it would only make commercial sense to use ammonia as a fuel source by 2030.