4. Why hydrogen is changing the geopolitics of energy

4.1 Reconfiguration

Hydrogen redistributes countries into three main groups in terms of trade. The most striking feature is that current strategies foresee a small number of importers, while many countries have expressed an interest in exporting hydrogen or its derivatives. This is a totally different configuration from that of LNG, where the number of importers in 2022 is more than double that of exporters. This distribution is essentially based on a disparity in the cost of producing hydrogen, particularly renewable hydrogen, between regions, and on a concentration of demand in certain regions (Europe, Japan, South Korea) which are unable to meet it due to limitations in the production of renewable electricity, both to supply the grid with decarbonized electricity and to produce...