Hydrogen National Representative Companies Gather... Launch of Korea's Hydrogen Council

Hyundai Motor, SK, POSCO, Lotte, Hanwha, Hyosung, and 15 total member companies leading Korea's hydrogen industry
Top executives of Korea's leading companies directly drive inter-company collaboration initiatives

(From left) Cho Hyun-joon, Chairman of Hyosung Group; Choi Jeong-woo, Chairman of POSCO Group; Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group; and Chung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group met on June 10 at the Hyundai Kia Technical Research Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province to discuss the establishment of a hydrogen company consortium.

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] The Korea H2 Business Summit, a hydrogen business council aimed at revitalizing the hydrogen economy and achieving carbon neutrality, has been established.

The H2 Business Summit, composed of 15 member companies leading the domestic hydrogen economy, held its inaugural general meeting and officially launched on the 8th at KINTEX Exhibition Hall 2 in Ilsan, with CEOs and corporate representatives from each member company in attendance.

The 15 member companies are Hyundai Motor Group, SK Group, POSCO Group, Lotte Group, Hanwha Group, GS Group, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, Doosan Group, Hyosung Group, Kolon Group, Isu Group, Iljin Group, E1, Korea Zinc, and Samsung C&T.

Attendees at the general meeting included Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, Hanwha Group Representative Kim Dong-kwan, GS President Heo Se-hong, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group Representative Chung Ki-sun, Doosan Group Chairman Park Jung-won, Hyosung Group Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sang, Kolon Group Vice President Lee Kyu-ho, Isu Group Chairman Kim Sang-beom, Iljin Group Vice Chairman Heo Jeong-seok, E1 Representative Koo Dong-hwi, and Korea Zinc Vice Chairman Choi Yoon-beom.

The Korea H2 Business Summit was prepared for launch led by three groups: Hyundai Motor, SK, and POSCO. They agreed that to revitalize the hydrogen economy and realize carbon neutrality as discussed at the Hydrogen Economy Committee in March, companies must unite their efforts and establish a CEO council.

Subsequently, Hyosung expressed its intention to participate, and the four group chairmen met at the Hyundai Motor-Kia Technology Research Center in June to formalize the launch of the hydrogen business council.

The Korea H2 Business Summit appoints the initial members Hyundai Motor, SK, and POSCO as co-chair companies, with Hyundai Motor taking turns as the secretary representing the council according to a rotation system.

The summit will hold an annual general meeting every September with all members participating to share key issues and current status and discuss cooperation plans. Additionally, member companies will hold regular meetings to select three key cooperation tasks by division?technology, policy, and global cooperation?and through focused discussions, derive detailed implementation plans.

Every year in the first half, the summit plans to hold a regular Investor Day targeting not only Korea but also global investment and financial firms, inviting domestic and international investors to promote hydrogen-related investment activation.

Korea’s Leading Hydrogen Companies Gather to Promote Inter-Company Cooperation

The Korea H2 Business Summit emphasized its plan to focus on promoting cooperation among various companies in the supply, demand, and infrastructure sectors and effectively reducing uncertainties throughout the hydrogen value chain.

Already, led by five groups?Hyundai Motor, SK, POSCO, Hanwha, and Hyosung?an investment of KRW 43.4 trillion has been decided across all sectors of the hydrogen economy including production, distribution/storage, and utilization by 2030.

First, the summit will focus on entering the overseas hydrogen production and transportation sectors to secure a leading and stable hydrogen supply chain. As a long-term strategy, it plans to diversify hydrogen supply sources and establish a self-reliant hydrogen supply network as the ultimate response strategy. The overseas clean hydrogen import plan of the Green Hydrogen Overseas Business Group, launched in June 2020, is expected to become more concrete.

Through the summit, broad sensing and investment in next-generation hydrogen technologies such as hydrogen liquefaction and hydrogen densification will be accelerated to secure core technologies of the future hydrogen economy early. To this end, it plans to develop into a platform where optimal overseas partners can be linked to explore investment and cooperation targets.

The summit will also propose government policies to concentrate industrial competitiveness through supply-demand and investment sharing and to create short- and long-term demand. It will continuously raise the necessity of hydrogen energy policies as a key means of decarbonization and ultimately enhance the completeness and competitiveness of the industrial ecosystem formed by the integration of individual corporate competitiveness, corporate policies, and finance.

Deloitte Keynote Speech: "The Focus of Hydrogen Competition is Scale-Up and Rapid Deployment"

At the general meeting, Deloitte Consulting delivered a keynote speech stating that global leading countries and companies currently focus on “scale-up and rapid deployment” in the hydrogen hegemony competition. Therefore, companies across supply, demand, and infrastructure sectors must actively collaborate, co-invest, and co-plan to effectively reduce uncertainties throughout the hydrogen value chain.

In particular, Deloitte recommended three major initiatives for the council to lead: securing an overseas clean hydrogen supply base through joint investment, creating an effective and rapid domestic ecosystem through cooperation between hydrogen supply and utilization companies, and early acquisition of core technologies across the hydrogen value chain.

Meanwhile, the CEOs and corporate representatives of the 15 member companies attending the general meeting toured the Hydrogen Mobility Show venue.

The Hydrogen Mobility Show, attended by Hyundai Motor Group, SK Group, POSCO Group, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, Doosan Group, Hyosung Group, Kolon Group, and Iljin Group among the members, was organized to provide a comprehensive view of the domestic and international hydrogen industry ecosystem, including hydrogen mobility, hydrogen charging infrastructure, and hydrogen energy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.