Global Green Hydrogen Scale-Up: Technology and Infrastructure

Abstract

Green hydrogen is increasingly regarded as a strategic option for decarbonizing industrial processes, long-distance transport, and energy systems that cannot be fully electrified. Produced from water electrolysis supplied by renewable electricity, it offers a route to low-carbon hydrogen, but its large-scale deployment remains constrained by cost, infrastructure, and governance. This review synthesizes recent literature, policy roadmaps, and project databases to assess the status of green hydrogen across technology, economics, trade, and regulation. The analysis compares major regional pathways in Europe, North America, Australia, China, and the Gulf, with attention to electrolyzer scale-up, renewable integration, hydrogen logistics, and certification frameworks. The reviewed evidence shows that strong renewable resource bases and manufacturing growth could push levelized green hydrogen costs toward the $2/kg range in favorable regions by 2030, whereas higher-cost markets are likely to remain above that threshold without sustained policy support. The paper also highlights unresolved issues related to water demand, critical materials, storage and transport infrastructure, and the absence of globally aligned standards. Overall, the review positions green hydrogen as an important but context-dependent pillar of future energy systems, whose success will depend on coordinated technology development, market design, and international cooperation.