The geopolitical roots of the EU Clean Hydrogen strategy: a cognitive analysis of a new industrial policy era of in Europe

Energy is the most fundamental input of modern socio-technical systems. Despite its key importance, cheap and reliable energy supply has been taken as granted in the West for most of the twentieth century. Recently, this energy dependency and the associated risks on the European economies and societies have become increasingly salient, most notably in the light of wicked and entangled contemporary challenges such as climate change, the increasing scarcity of raw material, and geopolitical realignments. Following the recent conflict in Eastern Europe, the EU has, through its REPowerEU plan, accelerated the already ongoing dynamic of unprecedented public investments and active steering in the energy sector. This Entrepreneurial State stance aims to create a sustainable, affordable, secure, and integrated European energy system. This article explores the nexus between this new era of EU industrial policy and the international security challenges the continent faces. This will be tackled by studying the nodal cornerstone of the EU energy policy strategy: the clean hydrogen economy. It conducts a cognitive policy analysis of how this Commission’s strategy changes following energy reframing as a geopolitical and security issue. More precisely, this article shows how the securitization of energy play a critical-juncture function in an ongoing policy change process. In doing so, this article attempts to connect the subfields of critical security studies, policy paradigm, and industrial policy. Also, it explores the almost unstudied question of the ins and outs of hydrogen geopolitics and contribute to the emerging puzzle of a changing EU economic governance.