Hydrogen policymaking is very much work in progress. In 2023, after the publication of the previous version of the paper on The Netherlands, a study on the future national energy system was published in which the role of hydrogen was also addressed. That study and the supporting documents reflect that the ideas about the future system have not fully ripened yet. Nevertheless, the idea to revisit this plan regularly is promising because all sorts of developments and events will force government, economic sectors, and society to adjust to dynamically changing circumstances going forward. Current energy policies thus point us in a general direction. The exact composition of the future energy mix, and the role of hydrogen (carriers), remains yet uncertain.

This paper is an update from a discussion paper published by RIFS, Potsdam in April 2023, and available on the CIEP-website. This updated version is a pre-publication of a Chapter in an upcoming book ‘The geopolitics of hydrogen: volume 1: European strategies in global perspective’ edited by Rainer Quitzow and Yana Zabanova.  

References to this paper should read: Roelof Stam, Coby van der Linde, Pier Stapersma, Hydrogen Policy in The Netherlands, laying the foundations for a scalable hydrogen value chain in: Quitzow R, Zabanova Y, (eds), The geopolitics of hydrogen: volume 1: European strategies in global perspective, Cham, Springer Nature Switzerland, in press.