German Research minister Anja Karliczek, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party, is pushing for a prompt government decision on a national hydrogen strategy, which had originally been expected a year ago.

“At this rate, we cannot waste any more time,” Karliczek told business daily Handelsblatt. “It’s therefore important that this strategy be approved as fast as possible,” she added.

While ministers are unlikely to make a decision on the matter at a planned meeting this Wednesday, the ministries have in recent weeks come significantly closer to reaching an agreement, writes Klaus Stratmann, citing government sources, according to CLEW.

The most recent draft for a national hydrogen strategy focuses on green hydrogen, produced from renewable electricity through water electrolysis, and blue hydrogen, produced via carbon capture and storage (CCS). It is the “goal of the federal government to use green hydrogen, to support a rapid market ramp-up for it and to establish corresponding value chains”, the draft plan states.