Beyond Pipes and Pressure: SEVEN Voices Shape the Future of Hydrogen at H2A Symposium
At last week’s H2A symposium, infrastructure was discussed, but not just the kind that’s laid underground or shipped across oceans. University of Amsterdam researchers affiliated with SEVEN, the university’s Climate Institute, brought a broader view to the table: that building a viable hydrogen economy is not only about terminals, pipelines and storage, but also about governance, fairness, and long-term legacy.
Held during Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary year and the city’s Toekomstdagen (Future Days), the third edition of the H2A Symposium gathered leading figures from industry, government, and academia to address the key challenges in scaling hydrogen imports. The theme, “Making the Leap: Achieving Breakthroughs in Hydrogen Imports,” reflected a shared urgency to overcome both technical and institutional barriers in building a clean hydrogen economy.
Chris Slootweg, Professor of Physical Organic Chemistry, Circular Chemistry, Science, Technology & Innovation, and SEVEN affiliated researcher, gave a compelling technical overview of the global hydrogen landscape. While hydrogen is often held up as a clean energy solution, Chris reminded the audience that today’s hydrogen production, around 100 million tonnes annually, is largely reliant on fossil fuels. Nearly half is used for fertiliser, directly tied to global food production, but comes with a heavy carbon cost.
Chris stressed that decarbonising existing hydrogen production is the first essential step by adding CO₂ capture to current facilities and investing in emerging technologies like methane pyrolysis and electrolysis. Yet scaling green hydrogen remains challenging, particularly due to the high costs of liquefaction and storage. “Zero boil-off” technologies, he explained, are crucial to avoid greenhouse gas leakage from liquid hydrogen during transport. Without this, up to 1% of stored hydrogen can be lost each day, undermining its environmental value.
Chris laid out three key needs: scalable and clean storage technologies, stronger collaboration between industrial and academic partners, and deep, data-driven analysis to evaluate when and where importing hydrogen is more sustainable than local production. He also highlighted the upcoming GroenvermogenNL programme, which will focus on import-oriented hydrogen research. Dutch companies interested in collaborating were warmly encouraged to join.
Taking the conversation into the legal and ethical realm, Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, Associate Professor of Sustainability Law and co-founder of SEVEN, brought a human rights lens to the discussion. “Infrastructure is not value-neutral,” she said. “It is governance, justice, and legacy.”
Margaretha made a powerful case for the international certification of hydrogen. For supply chains to be truly sustainable, hydrogen must not only be low-carbon, but also just. That means ensuring human rights, environmental standards, and climate obligations are embedded in every valve, sensor and shipment of hydrogen. She called for ports like Amsterdam to lead by example, piloting systems where only hydrogen that meets high sustainability criteria can flow into European markets.
Drawing on the Aarhus Convention, Margaretha reminded the audience that public participation in environmental decision-making is not optional, it is a legal obligation. Transparency in planning, traceable supply chains, and the certification of hydrogen as “green and fair” are essential to turning moral ambition into enforceable practice.
She offered three guiding principles for hydrogen infrastructure in the coming decade:
- See infrastructure as governance: Every design choice has social consequences.
- Design for fairness and inclusion: Anticipate who might be excluded and adapt accordingly.
- Institutionalise transparency: Ensure access to information, accountability, and public scrutiny.
The values behind SEVEN, named for the Indigenous principle that decisions should benefit people seven generations into the future, ran through both contributions. Whether through technological breakthroughs or governance reforms, the message was clear: hydrogen must be clean, just, and future-conscious.
As the energy transition picks up speed, SEVEN will continue to advocate for approaches that integrate climate justice, scientific innovation, and sound policy. The journey to a fair hydrogen economy has only just begun, at the 2025 H2A symposium, it became just a little more real.