Letter on hydrogen: Grey is going green and blue
Recent breakthroughs in the refining sector are important and should not be lost in the wider malaise over project FIDs
Hydrogen’s global conference circuit restarts this month after the summer recess, with the industry’s ongoing struggle to achieve project FIDs once again high on the agenda. Only about 15% of the green and blue hydrogen projects announced since 2015 have reached FID, according to the latest estimate from management consultants McKinsey & Company. Others put the figure significantly lower. The switch to green and blue hydrogen is gaining some genuine momentum in the refining sector “Hydrogen projects are facing bottlenecks, such as the need to build out entire value chains for technology deployment preventing them from reaching FID,” McKinsey said in its latest assessment of the t
Also in this section
14 January 2026
Continent’s governments must seize the green hydrogen opportunity by refining policies and ramping up the development of supply chains and infrastructure
6 January 2026
Shifts in government policy and rising power demand will shape the clean hydrogen sector as it attempts to gain momentum following a sluggish performance in 2025
23 December 2025
Government backing and inflow of private capital point to breakthrough year for rising star of the country’s clean energy sector
19 December 2025
The hydrogen industry faces an important choice: coordinated co-evolution or patched-together piecemeal development. The way forward is integrated co-evolution, and freight corridors are a good example






