Considering that an increasing number of nations are including hydrogen as a key aspect of their transition strategies, with some already having dedicated hydrogen plans, Climate Action, a UN foundation is geared to host a professional virtual Hydrogen Transition Summit designed for the audience to network, connect and explore new opportunities within hydrogen, industry, transport, and energy sector transitions.
According to Climate Action, the Summit is expected to bring together key stakeholders driving the sustainable and net-zero transition from policy and regulation to innovation, technology, and investment.
The summit which is anticipated to bring together over 1,000 stakeholders from across the policy, investment, technology, and regulation spectrum to discuss the key action points needed in order to make the hydrogen economy a reality is scheduled for 23 to 25 February 2021.
It will be running under the theme, “Shifting to a Hydrogen Economy: A Roadmap to Reality” and will be presented in four sessions exploring the role of clean hydrogen as a key driver of the transition to net-zero.
“The governments are due to submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of COP26, hydrogen will play a critical role in meeting 2030 targets and beyond.
“This is the ideal platform for investors, project developers, policymakers, and innovators to share insights and expertise on key transition trends and opportunities,” Climate Action pointed out.
The first session of the Hydrogen Transition Summit will explore the role of clean hydrogen in the Net-Zero transition. From storage to energy production to the grid and the gas network, Climate Action indicated, there are many ways in which hydrogen can provide vital solutions to issues faced as part of the Energy Transition.
“It will bring together key stakeholders from the public sector, finance and investment, private sector, and NGOs and Civil Society groups to explore the ways in which different actors can work together help achieve climate goals, with hydrogen being a critical aspect.”
The core discussion points of the first session of theTransition Summit will explore how different stakeholders view the role of hydrogen in the energy transition. The discussion will also delve into different countries approaching hydrogen and developing strategies around it as well as how can various stakeholder groups work together to ensure the hydrogen economy becomes a reality.
Pertaining the second session, the Summit is set to underscore reasons stopping the hydrogen economy from being a reality.
“The second session will delve into the current challenges and barriers to renewable hydrogen being at the heart of the energy transition.
“This will cover a lack of policy and regulatory frameworks, uncertainty around business models, the market for clean hydrogen, and supply and demand dynamics to which are hindering investors to the absence of cross-industry and cross-border collaboration,” Climate Action explained.
The critical areas set to be discussed in this session include discussions on lack of policy and regulatory frameworks and how these differ from country to country who are the leaders, how to create a market for clean hydrogen cross border and cross industry collaboration.
The third session will focus on the vital steps to shift to a hydrogen economy.
“The finance and investment community will discuss the steps they’re currently taking and what else needs to be done to ensure hydrogen is at the centre of a successful transition. Bringing together policymakers, the finance and investment community, business innovators, academics, and non-profit professionals, this session will focus largely on audience involvement and question and answer to help identify the required policy, financial frameworks, and market dynamics/business models to ensure the success of a hydrogen economy.”
Climate Action highlighted that the third session is also aimed at underscoring actions that need to be prioritised in the next 12 months to achieve 2030 targets, finance streams that need to be prioritised to ensure investment into hydrogen and how can these be supported as well as innovative policy and regulatory frameworks to enable countries to become hydrogen hotspots.
The final session of the Hydrogen Transition Summit will focus on creating the roadmap to reality bringing together the main points from the last three sessions to culminate with clear action points both speakers and the audience can take away with them, with a view to taking action in the next 12 months to ensure that climate targets are met in the next decade.
The summit is going to be supported by different partners. These include; Swiss Energy, a based investment company dedicated to renewable energy as the headline partner.
Industry Partners such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, a global manufacturing, and engineering firm, the Carbon Trust, Institutional and partners track are also going to be part and parcel of the transit summit.