Hydrogen ambassadors from Finland – Finnish Hydrogen Cluster joins European Hydrogen Week 2024
“The right investments in the right locations” is the message that Hydrogen Cluster Finland brings to the table in Brussels.
This week, Hydrogen Cluster Finland is attending the European Hydrogen Week in Brussels with other key Finnish organizations. The event focuses on Europe’s key hydrogen-related challenges: the urgency of creating practical regulatory frameworks and the importance of maintaining Europe’s leadership in an industry that is attracting worldwide attention. Hydrogen Week is the key forum for topics that are critical for the future of Europe, the future of the green transition, and the future of our planet.
The message the Finnish Hydrogen Cluster is bringing to Brussels is simple: Hydrogen is the new backbone of the European peace and prosperity project, and it requires a new shared European vision and strong cooperation across the continent. Europe must be ready to rethink its approach to competitiveness, self-sufficiency, climate change, and security through hydrogen. We want to help all of Europe understand that hydrogen is more than just energy: it’s a common denominator for most energy intensive industries.
Yet, the risks of protectionism overshadow the European hydrogen ecosystem. In the current economic situation, it is understandable that European nations have a need to secure immediate national interests. However, this often results in support for projects that are neither competitive nor efficient at a European scale, working against a Europe built on the strengths of its regions.
If investments are not directed to regions where they make the most sense, we risk losing significant potential both locally and across the EU. If we don’t make the right investments in the EU now, we will not be the forerunners we want to be in green hydrogen, e-methane, or e-methanol in the 2030s.
Together we must think of Europe as an entity and find each nations path within it. Each region has unique capabilities, and we need to utilize them all.
This is why Hydrogen Cluster Finland views Finland’s role as a northern path to secure a free, industrious Europe. Finland has excellent potential to produce hydrogen and its derivatives at highly competitive costs. According to a recent Eurostat statistic Finland had the lowest electricity price for industrial customers in the EU. Finland could produce up to 14% of Europe’s hydrogen needs, creating more than 100,000 new jobs. And we’re not just planning to do things – Finland’s first industrial scale green hydrogen unit is about to be opened soon.
We need the right hydrogen investments in the right locations. Just as the EU was once built on coal and steel, today our shared prosperity depends on hydrogen.
