Assessing the potential for green hydrogen partnerships. Evidence from a formal policy index

Clean hydrogen is believed to be a cornerstone for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation and shipping, steel or the chemical industry. In 2020, Germany therefore launched its National Hydrogen Strategy (NHS), in line with similar European-level efforts. To satisfy the expected demand for clean hydrogen, Germany is eying select countries as supplying the country with green hydrogen in the medium and long term. This raises the question of how to judge the sustainability of the emerging energy partnerships with potential producer nations. Much of the available research has focused on estimating their hydrogen production capacity and on comparing the assumed import costs, while some have stressed non-economic factors such as political stability. The present paper presents a more policy-focused approach to assessing the potential for hydrogen partnership. Building on a broad set of criteria, we develop a formal index comprising aspects such as environmental commitment, regulatory environment, and governance. The index on the one hand offers a structured way to compare and contrast producer nations with regard to their policy potential for sustainable hydrogen production, and an alternative approach for assessing possible hydrogen partner countries for Germany and Europe. On the other hand, it adds empirical substance to a growing academic conversation on the external dimension of the EU Green Deal and the foreign policy imperatives of the European Union going low carbon.