Wie frühe Klimaführerschaft Deutschland auf die falsche Wasserstoffwette festlegte - CleanTechnica

The article from CleanTechnica discusses how Germany’s early commitment to hydrogen as a climate solution shaped its energy strategy, ultimately leading to what the author terms a “wrong hydrogen bet.” In the 1990s and early 2000s, climate risks were recognized but practical decarbonization options were limited. Renewable energies like wind and solar were costly and technically constrained, while batteries were expensive, heavy, and short-lived. Hydrogen, by contrast, was already widely produced and used industrially, transported via pipelines, and demonstrated in fuel cell vehicles. It appeared to offer multiple advantages: storing excess renewable energy, seasonal storage, transport through existing pipelines, and clean vehicle fuel with only water as a byproduct. Thus, hydrogen quickly evolved from a technological option into a strategic cornerstone, supported by national roadmaps, research, regulation, industry coalitions, and workforce training. This institutional embedding of hydrogen created a strong path dependency that made later course corrections difficult, as budgets, careers, regulations, and