Delivering Green Hydrogen: Infrastructure, Investment and Cross-Sector Collaboration
This briefing will discuss the barriers to green hydrogen and how different sectors can work together to turn plans into reality.
Green hydrogen is increasingly central to the UK's net zero strategy, offering a route to decarbonise sectors where direct electrification is not viable: steel, cement, glass, chemicals, heavy transport, and maritime. Yet deployment is not primarily constrained by technology. The bottlenecks are infrastructural, financial, and systemic: grid connection backlogs, limited storage capacity, an underdeveloped hydrogen transport network, and a financing environment where risk allocation remains unresolved.
Emerging approaches, such as co-locating electrolysers with renewable generation, repurposing existing gas assets, and phasing infrastructure build-out around industrial clusters, are beginning to show what delivery could look like. Unlocking private investment at scale requires clearer public coordination, stronger demand signals, and collaboration across sectors.
This WIG briefing brings together senior leaders from government, law, and academia to examine what it would take to move from ambition to delivery, and where cross-sector partnership could make the decisive difference.
Key discussion points:
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What are the principal barriers to green hydrogen infrastructure delivery today, and which are most amenable to cross-sector solutions?
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How should infrastructure investment be sequenced, and what role can government, industry, and finance play at each stage?
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What can the UK learn from more advanced international markets, and where does it have genuine competitive advantage?
Panellists
Amer Gaffar is Manchester Met’s Director of Industrial Strategy Partnerships, working with colleagues across the University, partners and industry across Greater Manchester and beyond, to support the delivery of regional and national growth ambitions that will be delivered through the modern industrial strategy and regional sector plans.
Amer also retains his former role as Director of the Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre, developing core partnerships with SMEs, researchers, industry and policy makers to advance hydrogen sector growth including the development of hydrogen and fuel cell related industry and employment. This involves identifying opportunities to embed fuel-cell innovations and technology in the University estate and operations and supporting colleagues and departments to embed green skills opportunities for students.
Andreas Gunst is an energy, projects and finance practitioner qualified in England & Wales and Ireland, with in-house and private practice experience.
He has worked on a wide variety of hydrogen, ammonia, e-LNG, e-SAF, e-methanol and e-methane transactions including the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Brazil, United States, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand, North Macedonia.
More generally, his practice areas cover the entire energy value chain, including upstream oil and gas exploration, production, lifting, transportation and trading (both OTC and exchange) and supply; electricity generation projects from conventional and renewable energy sources; electricity transmission, distribution, trading (both OTC and exchange) and supply; and emission reduction projects, environmental attributes and securities, allowance and certificate trading as well as related regulatory advice.
Andreas is recognised and ranked in Legal 500 and Chambers as a leading energy practitioner for renewable energy and RFNBOs. He has led the legal working groups of I-Track, the Hydrogen Council and ETE(EFET) on developing standard documentation for RFNBO and CBAM compliant PPAs and hydrogen and ammonia offtake agreements.
When registering for this event you can choose whether you would prefer to attend in-person or virtually. Please note, in-person capacity is limited, and any members we are unable to accommodate face-to-face will be offered the opportunity to join virtually. The livestream will run from 12:30-13:30.
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