Global hydrogen investment announcements surpassed hundreds of billions of dollars over the past several years, yet the gap between announced capacity and operational deployment remains substantial. According to the International Energy Agency, only a fraction of proposed low emission hydrogen projects worldwide have reached final investment decision stage, underscoring the persistent challenges around infrastructure, financing, and industrial demand creation.
Those structural issues dominated discussions at the Global Hydrogen & Renewable Energy Summit 2025 held in Kochi, Kerala, where policymakers, investors, researchers, and industry executives focused increasingly on how cross border partnerships may determine whether hydrogen transitions from policy ambition to scalable industrial reality.
Speaking during the event, P. K. C. Bose, Chairman of Cambi India and Executive Advisor to the Management Board of Cambi Group Norway, emphasized that green hydrogen is becoming central to long term decarbonization strategies across both Europe and India. His remarks reflected a growing recognition that hydrogen development is shifting from isolated national strategies toward internationally interconnected supply chains, infrastructure systems, and industrial partnerships.
Europe’s approach illustrates both the scale of ambition and the complexity of execution.
The European Union has spent the last several years building policy frameworks designed to accelerate hydrogen deployment through infrastructure investment, industrial subsidies, and research funding. Countries including Germany, France, Netherlands, Norway, and Finland have expanded support for hydrogen production, transport networks, and industrial integration as part of broader energy security and decarbonization strategies.
Much of Europe’s hydrogen planning now extends beyond electrolyzer deployment itself. Pipeline infrastructure, storage systems, import terminals, and industrial conversion capacity are increasingly viewed as the critical bottlenecks that could determine whether hydrogen markets scale effectively.
This shift reflects lessons emerging from the first phase of Europe’s hydrogen expansion. Early policy discussions focused heavily on production targets and electrolyzer gigawatt announcements. However, developers increasingly face difficulties related to grid access, renewable power availability, permitting timelines, and uncertainty around long term industrial offtake demand.
Hydrogen infrastructure economics also remain highly challenging. Dedicated hydrogen pipeline networks require substantial capital expenditure and long utilization periods to become economically viable. At the same time, many industrial consumers remain hesitant to commit to long term green hydrogen contracts because production costs continue to exceed fossil based alternatives in most sectors.
Against this backdrop, India is positioning itself as both a manufacturing base and potential export supplier within the emerging hydrogen economy.
India’s rapid renewable energy expansion provides one of the country’s strongest competitive advantages. Large scale solar deployment and comparatively lower renewable electricity costs have strengthened expectations that India could eventually produce green hydrogen at lower cost than several industrialized economies with more constrained renewable resources.
Dr. Bose argued that India’s manufacturing capabilities and technical workforce could help support this transition, particularly as global supply chains seek alternatives for electrolyzers, clean energy components, and hydrogen related infrastructure.
However, India faces many of the same structural barriers confronting Europe.
Scaling hydrogen production requires far more than renewable electricity capacity alone. Water availability, transmission infrastructure, port logistics, storage systems, financing frameworks, and industrial demand centers all remain critical constraints. India must also balance export ambitions with domestic industrial decarbonization priorities, particularly in sectors such as refining, fertilizers, and steel production where hydrogen demand could expand significantly over the next decade.
The summit discussions reflected increasing awareness that hydrogen development is becoming deeply interconnected with industrial policy rather than functioning purely as an energy transition technology.
Cross border collaboration therefore emerged as a recurring theme throughout the event. European and Indian stakeholders are increasingly exploring partnerships spanning electrolyzer development, fuel cell technologies, storage systems, engineering services, and industrial applications. These collaborations are expected to play an important role in reducing technology costs and accelerating commercialization timelines.
Startups and research institutions are also becoming more central within the hydrogen ecosystem. Innovation funding programs across Europe increasingly target early stage hydrogen technologies, particularly in electrolyzer efficiency, materials science, storage solutions, and integrated renewable systems. Similar trends are beginning to emerge in India as policymakers seek to develop domestic industrial ecosystems capable of competing globally.
Yet the summit also highlighted a growing tension within the hydrogen sector itself. Political momentum and corporate announcements continue to expand, but commercial scalability remains uncertain in many applications. High capital costs, limited infrastructure, and uncertain policy consistency continue to slow deployment despite strong strategic interest.
