Why Hydrogen isn't working15 Dec 2025 21:23
Https://www.linkedin.com Jan Rosenow
Jan Rosenow
Professor of Energy and Climate Policy at Oxford University │ Senior Associate at Cambridge University │ Board Member │ LinkedIn Top Voice │ FEI │ FRSAProfessor of Energy and Climate Policy at Oxford University │ Senior Associate at Cambridge University │ Board Member │ LinkedIn Top Voice │ FEI │ FRSA
The hydrogen bubble has finally burst — and today’s news is another reminder of why.
The Financial Times reports that nearly 60 major low-carbon hydrogen projects have been cancelled or put on hold this year alone, including high-profile plans from BP, Exxon, Equinor, ArcelorMittal and others. Taken together, these shelved projects represent several times more capacity than the world has actually installed to date.
Why is this happening? Because the fundamentals still don’t stack up.
- Lack of buyers: The hoped-for demand from steel, trucking, aviation and industry has not materialised at the scale developers assumed.
- Costs remain stubbornly high: Even with cheap renewables, green hydrogen is significantly more expensive as grey hydrogen.
- Infrastructure is lagging: Storage, pipelines and transport networks simply aren’t there yet.
All of this reinforces something many energy analysts have said for years: hydrogen is essential - but only for the sectors where there are no viable alternatives. That means targeted use in fertilisers, refining, long-durational storage and possibly long-distance shipping and aviation - not widespread deployment across heating, industrial process heat, and road transport.
We should see the current wave of cancellations not as failure, but as market correction. Reality is catching up with hype.