‘There is no shortcut to future hydrogen society,’ says Chung Eui-sun

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun suggested three directions to realize a hydrogen society at the Hydrogen Council’s general meeting in France. Attending the meeting as a co-chair of the council, Chung presented a process necessary to move away from a carbon society and become a hydrogen society and said the South Korean automaker will play a leading role in doing so.

Hyundai Motor Group said on Tuesday that Executive Vice Chairman Chung held a welcome speech at the annual CEO meeting of the Hydrogen Council held in Paris, France on Monday (local time) and presided over group discussions. “There is no shortcut to the future hydrogen society,” said Chung in his welcome speech, adding that the most important thing to do is to establish concrete action plans by stage and sector and act consistently.

The Hydrogen Council is a CEO-led initiative of 81 leading global companies in the field of hydrogen energy. Since its launch at the 2017 World Economic Forum in Davos, the council has sought to move away from a carbon society. Chung has co-chaired the council since its launch.

The council also released a report entitled, “Path to Hydrogen Competitiveness: A Cost Perspective” on Tuesday. The data was collected and analyzed by McKinsey & Company, global leading consulting firm. The report predicted that fast development of hydrogen technology will reduce the cost of hydrogen by up to 50% in the stages of production, distribution, and utilization within 10 years. It means if hydrogen can be extracted from water at a lower cost with the help of a strong fall in the production cost of renewable energy, the production cost of hydrogen will also come down. Overall expenses for distribution, hydrogen charging stations, and production of hydrogen fuel cell system can also be reduced through economy of scale.

Chung is scheduled to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos Forum from Tuesday to exchange opinions with intellectuals from around the world on the role of mobility in making a sustainable society and the utilization of hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cell system.


Do-Hyong Kim dodo@donga.com