Meet the Members: Linde

The Hydrogen Council was created in 2017 and Linde was one of 13 founding members. Just five years later, the Council has nearly 150 members. Why did Linde want to be a part of the Hydrogen Council?

As a company, we have always been very committed to our role as stewards of sustainability and were one of the first to advocate for the use of hydrogen as part of the solution to tackle climate change. Our first studies around hydrogen for mobility date back to the 1970s and, since then, we have been continuously investing in the development of technologies and infrastructure to enable those developments, not only in mobility but also in other sectors, such as chemicals and heavy industry.

Translating aspiration into reality, Linde has installed over 200 hydrogen refueling stations for passenger vehicles, buses, trucks, and trains; proved that hydrogen can be effectively used in steel manufacturing; and has been successfully operating the first commercial high purity hydrogen cavern for almost two decades. As noteworthy as these contributions might be, ramping up the hydrogen economy is a massive undertaking, one which requires all industry stakeholders to work collaboratively so that it happens in a safe, effective, and sustainable way. Organizations such as the Hydrogen Council are essential in fostering those collaborations and in providing all relevant stakeholders with unbiased, trustworthy information.

In 2017, during the Davos meeting, the founding members knew the world wasn’t quite ready for hydrogen yet, but we shared a common goal of showcasing the potential of this powerful energy carrier, as we all believed it would be key in achieving the targets set out in the Paris Accords. Six years later, we are glad to see that vision become a reality, with hydrogen being recognized by companies, governments, and consumers as a promising solution to achieve net zero and with a growing number of organizations joining us in this mission of accelerating the energy transition with hydrogen.

What are some of the biggest milestones the Hydrogen Council has achieved since it launched?

Within a relatively short period of time, the Hydrogen Council has successfully established itself as the focal point for hydrogen-related thought leadership and advocacy and has contributed to the exponential visibility that hydrogen has gotten in the past few years.

Through its members’ global reach, cross-sectoral scope and in-depth industry knowledge, the Council has helped shape the conversation around hydrogen and formed sustainable and valuable collaborations with WEF, COP, IEA, NGOs and other stakeholders, to make the hydrogen economy a reality.

Linde’s hydrogen business dates back to the early 20^th Century and today clean hydrogen is a cornerstone of Linde’s clean energy strategy. Can you tell us more about the important role you see for hydrogen?

Hydrogen has the potential to decarbonize industry, support cleaner mobility solutions and enable the wider use of renewable energy. Today, governments and companies around the world are urgently looking for effective ways to tackle climate change, and more recently to secure energy independence – hydrogen is a promising solution. In fact, we are seeing legislation across Europe, the U.S., Middle East, and Asia to stimulate the rapid development of the hydrogen economy and to overcome some of the known obstacles.

We are actively working with several industry stakeholders in projects that can effectively fast-track the energy transition. The key is to use existing infrastructure, as it is agnostic to the molecule’s carbon intensity, to start producing, transporting, and using low-carbon hydrogen around the world. I am convinced that blue hydrogen, and its derivative blue ammonia, will take center stage in the next few years as a bridge while renewables and green hydrogen production scale up.

As momentum for hydrogen continues to increase, where do you think the Hydrogen Council needs to focus its efforts in 2023?

We’ve seen unprecedented levels of activity around hydrogen in the past few years, so that first step of showcasing why hydrogen should be looked at and seriously considered as a solution to one of mankind’s most pressing issues has been largely completed.

Looking at the future, we should certainly keep working on advocacy and education, especially when it comes to younger generations, but our focus should largely shift towards making hydrogen happen. Legislation and regulatory approvals; certifications and standards; securing demand for low-carbon hydrogen; and connecting relevant stakeholders for project development, are just a few examples of areas where work needs to be done to debottleneck the hydrogen economy.

I believe the Hydrogen Council and its members have a fundamental role to play when it comes to providing insightful thought leadership as we build the path to a sustainable energy transition.