Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Welcome to the hydrogen economy
Sustainability | Decarbonization | Renewable energy
January 10, 2023 – Hydrogen could be a critical part of the journey to net zero, as it can be used in applications ranging from transportation to steelmaking. Around the globe, nearly 700 large-scale hydrogen projects have been announced, senior partner Bernd Heid and colleagues note. The projects represent up to $240 billion in direct investments.
To read the article, see “Five charts on hydrogen’s role in a net-zero future,” October 25, 2022.
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Visual form
Project-pipeline category chart.
Layout / body structure
The chart is arranged as a category breakdown of announced hydrogen projects, with the reader moving across the major use areas to see where the pipeline is concentrated. The page reads as a sectoral project map rather than as a single total number.
What is being compared
It compares large-scale hydrogen projects across application categories such as production, industrial usage, transport, and infrastructure.
Measurement system
The chart uses project counts as the main structural measure and pairs that with the value framing around direct investment. Category labels identify where the announced activity is clustering.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The internal pieces are the category groupings for the hydrogen pipeline and the labels attached to the project volumes in each group. The page is organized so that the concentration of activity in production and adjacent infrastructure is visible at a glance.
Main takeaway from the visual
The chart shows that the hydrogen economy has moved beyond isolated pilot projects into a broad announced pipeline. The distribution across production, industrial use, transport, and infrastructure makes the build-out look like a full-system effort rather than a one-node market.
Key standout values or extremes
The page highlights more than 680 large-scale hydrogen projects worldwide and up to 240 billion dollars in direct investment. Those totals anchor the rest of the category comparison.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.