Investments in the hydrogen sector are well-below the estimated requirements for a net-zero scenario in 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Monday.

According to its Global Hydrogen Review 2021 report, launched at the Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting held by Japan, investments are growing but not as much as they should be. The report estimated countries have earmarked $37 billion in investments into hydrogen development, while the private sector has pledged $300 billion.

The figures may sound huge compared to investment in other sectors, but the IEA claims to put the hydrogen sector on path consistent with global net zero emissions by 2050, $1,200 billion of investment will be needed between now and 2030.

IEA officials said in a webinar attended by Kallanish that governments need to move faster and more decisively on a broad range of policy measures to encourage wider hydrogen applications. They note that now it is time for implementation of plans through concrete actions, which could include carbon pricing, mandates, quotas and hydrogen requirements in public procurement.

To date, 17 governments have published hydrogen strategies, with over 20 others publicly announcing they are working on devising their strategies. This is an improvement compared to 2019 when only France, Japan and South Korea had national hydrogen strategies.

“Governments need to take rapid actions to lower the barriers that are holding low-carbon hydrogen back from faster growth, which will be important if the world is to have a chance of reaching net zero emissions by 2050,” says IEA’s executive director Fatih Birol.

The report forecasts that to get to net-zero by 2050, global electrolyser capacity should be 80 million tonnes in 2030. Today, there are 350 projects under development and 40 in early steps of development. If they all materialise, green hydrogen supply in 2030 will be 8m t – which is considerably less than needed, yet much higher than the fewer than 50,000 t produced currently.