Good practice:

Elaboration of Hungary’s National Hydrogen Strategy 2030 and its approval by the State

Hydrogen, hydrogen technologies and their value chains are very diversified and a novel area, which affects, interconnects several sectors; a lot of companies, R&D institutions and the government offices/authorities, and users have to cooperate in a well-coordinated way to proceed. In many cases establishment of completely new business models, legal regulation, technology development is required;

Hungary’s National Hydrogen Strategy- adopted by the State in May 2021- is ambitious but provides a realistic vision of the future as it opens the way for the establishment of a hydrogen economy, therefore contributing to the achievement of decarbonisation goals and providing an opportunity for Hungary to become an active participant of the European hydrogen sector. The Strategy has defined four priority objectives up to 2030. 1) Production of large volumes low-carbon and decentralised carbon-free hydrogen 2) Decarbonisation of industrial consumption partly with hydrogen 3) Green transport 4) Electricity and (natural) gas infrastructure

Regarding the stakeholders, the members of the Hydrogen Technology Platform provided support to the draft version of the Strategy. In particular, hydrogen related companies, universities, R&D actors and public authorities will contribute to the implementation of the Strategy goals.

The key members of the National Hydrogen Platform provided expertise and input to the Strategy. For the implementation of the priorities projects, national/EU funds will be available from different Territorial Operative Programs.

The Strategy can be considered as a milestone, since it defines the main objectives and priority projects which will enable the transition to carbon neutrality of the country. 1 ) Green Truck Programme,2) Green Bus Programme Plus 3) Establishment of hydrogen valleys in Hungary 4)Hydrogen Highway Project 5)Blue Hydrogen Project 6)R&D&I in H2. With this strategy Hungary has become one of the firsts in the Central and Eastern European Region, who has adopted National Hydrogen Strategy.

It was challenging to define the objectives and the main priorities of the Strategy which are ambitious but still realistic for Hungary. The specific application opportunities to enhance the main priorities of the Strategy and the national regulatory framework of H2 still needs to be finalised.

The methodology of elaborating a national level Hydrogen Strategy as well as its objectives, main priorities and implementation time plan might be beneficial and interesting for regions/countries who have not adopted/are currently preparing their national hydrogen strategies, since the defined elements might give an inspiration to them. A review of the Strategy is foreseen in 2025, and by then the sessions will be updated and new objectives might appear which would also influence other regions.

Furthermore, the establishment of the regulatory framework of hydrogen as well as the engagement method of the most relevant hydrogen-related players might be also interesting for other regions.