Bosnia and Herzegovina’s delayed entry into the hydrogen economy could prove strategic rather than problematic, according to industry stakeholders who argue that the country can leverage international failures and regulatory missteps to build more efficient infrastructure from the outset.
At the Sarajevo Energy and Climate Week (SECW 2025), Mersiha Babić, President of the Assembly of the Association for Green Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Sources, described the country’s position not as an attempt to catch up, but as capitalizing on observational learning. “We have the opportunity to carefully analyze the international experiences and regulations of other countries to build a solid foundation for hydrogen development in Bosnia and Herzegovina, applying best practices tailored to our specific context,” Babić said, pointing to what she characterized as a deliberate approach to hydrogen deployment that prioritizes education and regulatory frameworks over rapid project announcements.
The claim warrants scrutiny. While late adoption can theoretically allow countries to avoid costly infrastructure mistakes—Australia’s stalled hydrogen export ambitions and Europe’s scattered ammonia versus liquid hydrogen terminal strategies offer cautionary examples—it also risks irrelevance in a market where first-movers secure long-term offtake agreements and establish supply chain dominance. The Gulf Cooperation Council states, particularly Saudi Arabia and Oman, have already positioned themselves as primary suppliers to European markets, raising questions about where Bosnia and Herzegovina fits in an increasingly crowded field.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Association for Green Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Sources, as an NGO operating for less than two years, has focused on educational trainings and initiatives aimed at connecting and informing the private and public sectors to raise awareness of the importance of hydrogen and its potential applications. The Association’s approach is based on informing, educating, and networking key stakeholders—from both industry and government—to foster interest, understanding, and concrete regulatory steps toward developing a hydrogen economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Trainings for representatives of the private and public sectors, conducted in cooperation with the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, focused on the application of hydrogen in transport decarbonization and challenges in renewable energy projects. Additional programs and trainings, as well as future pilot projects on hydrogen technologies and battery energy storage, are planned in cooperation with Green Sustainable Solutions Zagreb and other international partners.
While neighboring countries announce memorandums of understanding and feasibility studies for specific hydrogen production facilities, Bosnia and Herzegovina has yet to disclose concrete production targets, electrolyzer capacity commitments, or identified industrial offtakers. The domestic steel and cement industries—both significant emission sources—represent potential early adopters, but no public agreements have materialized.
The country’s renewable energy capacity presents both opportunities and constraints. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s hydropower resources provide baseload generation, but green hydrogen production requires significant additional renewable capacity dedicated exclusively to electrolysis. Without transparent data on planned electrolyzer installations or renewable energy expansion linked to hydrogen production, the gap between strategic positioning and operational readiness remains undefined.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s implementation pathway lacks the granularity seen in more developed national hydrogen strategies. Germany’s National Hydrogen Strategy, for example, specifies 10 GW of electrolyzer capacity by 2030, dedicated hydrogen pipeline infrastructure, and sector-specific deployment roadmaps. Bosnia and Herzegovina has not published comparable targets or infrastructure investment commitments.
The regulatory environment adds complexity. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s fragmented governance structure—divided between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, and Brčko District—complicates unified energy policy implementation. Hydrogen infrastructure development requires coordinated permitting, safety standards, and cross-entity grid integration, none of which have been publicly addressed in national energy planning documents.
Financial mechanisms remain similarly opaque. European Union candidate status theoretically opens access to funding instruments like the European Hydrogen Bank and Innovation Fund, but actual project financing depends on meeting stringent technical and regulatory prerequisites. Without operational projects or advanced-stage feasibility studies, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ability to compete for limited funding against countries with established pipelines is uncertain.
Knowledge transfer alone cannot substitute for practical implementation experience. Hydrogen technology deployment involves site-specific engineering challenges, supply chain development, and workforce training that cannot be fully replicated through observation. Countries that have encountered and resolved electrolyzer integration issues, hydrogen purity requirements for industrial applications, and safety protocol implementation possess operational knowledge that educational programs cannot fully transmit.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s positioning as a deliberate late-mover also assumes that the hydrogen market will remain open to new entrants long enough for the country to complete its preparatory phase. If European demand locks into established supply relationships with North African pipeline corridors or Gulf LNG-conversion facilities, the window for meaningful market participation may narrow before Bosnia and Herzegovina transitions from education to execution.
While institutional capacity for stakeholder engagement exists, key questions remain unanswered: What are the concrete hydrogen production targets? Which industrial sectors are ready to transition from fossil fuels? What infrastructure investments are planned, and within what timeframe? Without answers grounded in project-level data, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s hydrogen strategy remains more aspirational than operational.
