Convening a Hydrogen Economy Ecosystem for Hong Kong

Challenges of Hydrogen Commercialisation in Hong Kong

While hydrogen technology is mature, its economics are not. In 2026, Hong Kong SAR’s only publicly accessible refuelling station dispenses hydrogen at a retail price of HK$138/kg. Three previously approved trial projects, involving nine hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and one refuelling station, have since been withdrawn for business reasons. The Government’s stated position is to support the regularisation of the management of hydrogen energy-related services, while giving full play to the market’s decisive role in resource allocation. A research gap persists: How could Hong Kong supports trial projects from the businesses’ point of view, from being withdrawn in the middle of the project, to ensuring a long-term operation?  

COMMERCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF A HYDROGEN ECOSYSTEM

This research report examines how Hong Kong SAR can convene a viable hydrogen economy ecosystem that lowers the cost of hydrogen and its deployment. It draws on analysis to four jurisdictions with relatively advanced hydrogen sectors, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, alongside local stakeholder engagement, and hotspot and corridor mapping across Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Key findings indicate that the binding constraint in every jurisdiction visited was not technology but the absence of trusted, offtake-backed demand. Pump prices ranged from around HK$60/kg in Canada to HK$82/kg in Japan. The public refuelling network in United Kingdom contracted from fifteen stations to four without guaranteed offtake. South Korea illustrates the opposite dynamic: by-product hydrogen produced at roughly HK$15/kg ex-factory still reaches HK$50/kg at the pump, yet clustering producers, fleets and industrial users in Ulsan delivered falling prices alongside rising demand. The research report also evaluated the pathways available to close this commercial gap. Hydrogen assets in Hong Kong cost approximately 2 to 2.25 times their diesel equivalent, and this difference can be narrowed without large-scale domestic production. Certification alignment creates a predictable market; planning demand and supply in tandem raises infrastructure utilisation and lowers the unit cost of delivered hydrogen; and sector coupling across transport and logistics, construction, maritime ports, aviation, the power system, financial services and certification widens the demand base. Northern Metropolis, Kwai Tsing and Hong Kong International Airport emerge as the most promising clusters.  

RECOMMENDATIONS

Building on international and Chinese Mainland experience, the research report proposes a five-layer Hydrogen Economy Ecosystem Architecture and an accompanying stakeholder roadmap, shifting the policy objective from proving technical viability to achieving commercial bankability. Government should act as a first mover by aggregating private-sector procurement to give suppliers the confidence to invest. Local pilots should integrate fleets, refuelling nodes and certification from the outset, so that infrastructure is never built ahead of anchored demand. Opening refuelling facilities to shared use, with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s full support on hydrogen activities covered in the Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance. Finally, advancing the Green Hydrogen Standard Certification Scheme would establish Hong Kong as a one-stop shop that certifies and internationalises Chinese Mainland hydrogen technologies, mobilising whole-of-society participation towards carbon neutrality before 2050.