CEOs from more than 30 companies have joined the new Global Hydrogen Mobility Alliance which has one clear message to European policy makers: Hydrogen mobility is essential to Europe’s climate goals, industrial competitiveness, and strategic resilience – and urgent action is needed on infrastructure buildout.
In a joint letter addressed to EU and Member State leaders, bosses from the likes of BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Iveco, Toyota and Volvo urge policymakers to firmly position hydrogen mobility at the heart of Europe’s clean transport and industrial strategies.
The CEOs point to three critical issues:
• Hydrogen mobility is a strategic imperative: Complementing battery-electric vehicles, hydrogen technologies are vital to ensuring a diversified, resilient and cost-effective decarbonisation of road transport. A combined approach could save Europe between 300-500 billion euros in infrastructure costs by 2050. Two mobility infrastructures will be cheaper for Europe than relying on just electrification.
• Hydrogen mobility is a vector for jobs and industrial growth: Europe’s existing industrial strengths in automotive and advanced manufacturing can be leveraged to lead in hydrogen technology, providing up to 500,000 jobs by 2030.
• Hydrogen mobility unlocks critical energy system synergies: Hydrogen enables demand aggregation, supports hard-to-abate sectors and drastically reduces renewable energy waste.
Despite progress, the CEOs warn that hydrogen mobility in Europe will stagnate unless a more coordinated and pragmatic policy framework is implemented to support the rollout of the necessary infrastructure and achieve the scale needed for the hydrogen mobility market to flourish. For this to happen, they say hydrogen mobility must form a central element of strategic initiatives such as the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan and Clean Industrial Deal, while the ongoing push to simplify EU regulations can help drive down the cost and complexity of building hydrogen mobility infrastructure.
Oliver Zipse, chairman of the Board, BMW Group, says: “In today’s geopolitical and industrial context, hydrogen is not just a climate solution – it’s a resilience enabler for Europe. At BMW, we are investing in our own hydrogen vehicle program while supporting ecosystems and refueling infrastructure. We are contributing to a broader vision for Europe that reduces critical raw material dependencies and strengthens industrial sovereignty. At BMW, we know there is no full decarbonisation or competitive European mobility sector without hydrogen.”
