Governance Innovation or Imagination? Three Storylines of Navigating the EU’s Leading Role in Green Hydrogen Deployment in a Polarized World

Green Hydrogen has been hailed as a game changer in climate actions, yet both global hydrogen markets and governance frameworks remain underdeveloped. The EU aims to pioneer a regulatory pathway, embedding hydrogen into its decarbonization governance framework. Centered on renewable hydrogen, the EU moves beyond “color-coding” technical classifications towards an emission-intensity-based legal definition, illustrating the tension and synergy between technological neutrality and policy priority in hydrogen governance. Further, the EU’s “dual-core” ambition seeks both an internal market for green hydrogen and a level global playing field, reinforced through the “Brussels Effect.” This article explores how the EU navigates its hydrogen roadmap under the EU Strategic Autonomy in geopolitical polarization. It elaborates three interrelated storylines: the emerging internal governance framework; the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism bridging internal and external markets; and an international climate club, a potential catalyst for a global green hydrogen market where the EU’s hydrogen ambition can thrive.