Global Hydrogen Review 2025

Trade and infrastructure

Highlights

  • Trade is a major driver of project announcements. Nearly 45% of low-emissions hydrogen from announced production projects is intended for export, exceeding 16 Mtpa H₂-eq by 2030 if all materialise. Yet export-oriented projects are less likely to reach the investment stage, with only 5% having done so. These projects tend to be large scale, lacking off-takers. More than half are in emerging and developing economies, where affordable capital and export infrastructure may be limited.
  • Some governments are supporting the large-scale offtake of low-emissions hydrogen by providing funds for long-term premiums through competitive auctions. However, not all allocated funding has been awarded in initial rounds due to a range of difficulties, including regulatory uncertainty, limited funding volumes and currency risk, prompting modifications to the design of subsequent rounds.
  • Around 37 000 km of hydrogen pipelines have been announced to 2035, but less than 6% have reached final investment decision (FID). Most projects are in Europe and China, where the world’s longest, largest-diameter hydrogen pipelines are currently being built. In Germany, work began on repurposing a 400 km section of a natural gas pipeline in 2025, in a world-first repurposing project of this scale.
  • If all announced underground hydrogen storage projects are realised by 2035, around 11 TWh of capacity (325 kt H₂) will be available. However, only 5% has reached FID or is under construction, equivalent to 2.5% of the annual output from committed low-emissions hydrogen projects. Progress remains concentrated in Germany, where one commercial-scale salt cavern project has reached FID.
  • By 2030, over 130 high-traffic ports could have access to at least 100 ktpa of low-emissions hydrogen within a distance of 500 km, based on announced production projects, though availability varies widely by location and cargo segment.
  • Nearly 80 ports score more than 5 (out of 10) in the IEA’s Chemical-handling Infrastructure Score, which reflects physical infrastructure and operational expertise that can enable the adoption of low-emissions fuels.
  • Of these, 55 ports have significant nearby hydrogen supply and high infrastructure readiness, meaning they could be early candidates for low-emissions hydrogen-based fuel bunkering. However, ability to support methanol or ammonia bunkering will also depend on access to sustainable carbon sources in the case of methanol, and sufficient space for handling ammonia safely. 
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