Positioning Germany in an International Hydrogen Economy: A Policy Review

This paper provides a detailed review of German policy, highlighting its prominent international dimension and its implications for the development of a global renewable hydrogen economy. It provides an overview of the strategy’s central goals and how these have evolved since the launch of the strategy in 2020. It then highlights the strategy’s institutional underpinning and discusses its implications for strategy implementation. Next, it moves on to provide an overview of the strategy’s main areas of intervention and highlights corresponding policy instruments. For this, we draw on a detailed assessment of 160 hydrogen policy instruments, which have been systematically analyzed and coded. This was complemented by information gathered in six interviews with government officials and staff of key implementing agencies. The article places particular emphasis on the strategy’s international dimension. While less significant in financial terms than domestic hydrogen-related spending, it represents a defining feature of the German hydrogen strategy, setting it apart from other strategies in the EU. The article closes with a reflection on the key implications of the German approach for the development of a hydrogen economy in Europe and globally. It emphasizes the importance of systematic policy assessment as a basis for understanding of how policies are driving not only decarbonization but also the sustainability and resilience of a hydrogen economy.