Hydrogen Council leaders convene at Global CEO Summit with unified call to action: Build faster, unlock demand, deliver by 2030

BRUSSELS/SEOUL, December 4, 2025 – More than 200 CEOs and senior executives from the world’s leading businesses in hydrogen convened in Seoul, South Korea this week for the Hydrogen Council’s Global CEO Summit 2025, united around a clear call to action: build faster and unlock commercial-scale demand by 2030.

At the Summit, leaders endorsed Hydrogen 2030: Lead. Build. Deliver., a joint Communiqué outlining the concrete steps needed to accelerate global deployment within this decade: unlock demand through policy action, put in place pragmatic regulations, build out infrastructure, align on global standards, and foster strong public-private partnerships.

The Communiqué highlights the industry’s decisive shift from ambition to delivery. In just the last five years, the sector has recorded a ten-fold increase in capital, committed across more than 500 projects that have passed financial investment decision (FID), are in construction or operation. Combined with continued project pipeline maturation and clean up focused on the strongest project, the growth trajectory mirrors the early scale-up of wind and solar industries.

Jaehoon Chang, Vice Chair of Hyundai Motor Group and Co-Chair of the Hydrogen Council, said: “Hydrogen is not only a climate solution but a cornerstone for energy security and industrial competitiveness. This CEO Summit underscored a decisive shift for the hydrogen industry, moving beyond ambition to action as leaders aligned on practical steps to unlock demand, scale infrastructure and accelerate global collaboration. The message from Seoul is clear: with solid policy support and strong public-private collaboration, the industry will deliver real impact.”

François Jackow, CEO of Air Liquide and Co-Chair of the Hydrogen Council, said: “The hydrogen industry is at a pivotal moment. We have moved from proofs-of-concept to the successful commercial deployment of major, concrete projects at scale. The time has now come to push further. To successfully achieve our 2030 milestones, we must relentlessly focus on three things: building faster, establishing harmonized global standards to level the playing field and foster demand for low-carbon products, and ensuring bold coordinated public-private action to accelerate deployment.”

Ivana Jemelkova, CEO of the Hydrogen Council, said: “As the world’s largest and only CEO-led hydrogen alliance, the Hydrogen Council is proud to have convened top global hydrogen leaders at this key moment. What stood out the most at the CEO Summit, was the collective focus on delivery – building projects, working hand-in-hand with governments to implement enabling policies, and forging stronger collaborations to continue hydrogen’s growth.”