Amsterdam Positions Itself as Europe’s Hydrogen Gateway
Amid a city-wide celebration of its 750th anniversary, Amsterdam made another kind of history: affirming its position as a central hub in Europe’s hydrogen future. At this year’s H2A Symposium, policymakers, industry leaders, and international partners gathered at Theater Amsterdam to discuss the rapidly accelerating hydrogen economy and the Dutch capital’s emerging role as its strategic entry point.
Delivering the keynote address, Michel Heijdra, Director-General for Climate and Energy at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, struck a confident tone. “Amsterdam has always stood for trade, openness, and boldness,” he said, noting the symbolic weight of the moment. “It is this same spirit that now underpins the Netherlands’ hydrogen ambitions.”
Despite recent political turbulence in The Hague following the fall of the Dutch government, Heijdra made one thing clear: hydrogen policy will remain firmly on track. “Even our parliament said this morning: we need to continue. Energy policy is non-controversial,” he told the audience. “We are moving ahead.”
Five years ago, the Netherlands launched its first hydrogen strategy. At that time, Heijdra recalled, the vision was ambitious but largely untested. “We’ve since moved from dreams to realism and pragmatism,” he said. “And most importantly, to implementation.” In that time, the Netherlands has laid the foundations of a true hydrogen economy: developing backbone pipelines, import terminals, and large-scale storage facilities. “These are real things in the real world,” Heijdra emphasized.
A key theme of the keynote, and of the Symposium at large, was the need to unlock demand. “Last year, all we talked about was demand, demand, demand,” Heijdra said. “Now we are acting on it.”
He outlined five new policy levers the Dutch government is using to stimulate hydrogen offtake across sectors. First, new transport sector obligations require renewable fuel blending. Second, the Netherlands is the only country in Europe implementing hydrogen take-off quotas in industry, starting at 4% by 2030 and set to rise thereafter. Third, similar obligations are being introduced in the power sector, with hydrogen-fueled power plants expected to support grid flexibility by 2040.
Fourth, the Netherlands, together with Germany, is pushing forward H2Global tenders to secure international hydrogen imports. Finally, the Dutch government is working with the European Commission to establish lead markets for hydrogen-based products, ranging from green steel to, as Heijdra quipped, “green potato fries.” These product-level interventions aim to strengthen the economic viability of hydrogen across entire value chains.
Central to all of this is Amsterdam’s evolving role. “We know the Netherlands will always be a net hydrogen importer,” Heijdra acknowledged. “Just like LNG sets the price for gas today, global imports will set the price for hydrogen tomorrow.” With this in mind, the Port of Amsterdam has already signed Memoranda of Understanding with Oman, Norway, Spain, the United States, and most recently Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador.
But Amsterdam’s advantage isn’t just maritime. Below the surface lies a web of pipelines connecting the port to industrial clusters and airports across the Netherlands and beyond. “Amsterdam is not just Amsterdam,” Heijdra said. “It is a European import hub.”
In a moment of dramatic foreshadowing, Heijdra ended his speech with a “cliffhanger,” hinting at a major infrastructure announcement later that day. That announcement came in the form of H2Avannet, a new hydrogen infrastructure network that will connect Amsterdam’s import