Seaports as green hydrogen hubs: advances, opportunities and challenges in Europe

The energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables is widely considered as a key action field in decarbonizing the global economy, thus preventing the disastrous, irreversible, consequences of climate change, too well known to all. Yet, the greatest part of the required energy in the coming decade will still come from fossil sources. Fortunately, however, the highest growth rate will be seen in renewable energy sources. The World Energy Outlook 2022 report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) summarizes the longer-term global energy mix. In the ‘Stated Policies Scenario’ (STEPS), coal demand will reach a peak within the next few years, natural gas reaches a plateau by the end of the 2020s, and oil demand reaches a peak by mid‐2030s before it starts to decline. In relative terms, the share of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) in total energy supply is expected to decrease from just under 80% in 2020 to slightly above 60% in 2040. The main scenario also shows that about 60% of all new power generation capacity to 2040 shall regard renewables (IEA 2022a ). Under the more ambitious ‘Announced Pledges Scenario’ (APS), global energy demand is expected to increase by only 0.2% per annum to 2030 (0.8% p.a. in the STEPS) combined with a much stronger shift to low emission energy sources. The speed of transformation in the ‘Net Zero Emissions by 2050’ scenario (NZE) is even more dramatic.