JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – In an announcement to Mining Weekly from Brussels on Tuesday January 20, South Africa’s Simon Baloyi, the CEO of Sasol, and South Africa's Craig Miller, the CEO of Valterra Platinum, featured prominently as board members of the Hydrogen Council, which is one of the world’s biggest CEOs-only alliances and which is now strongly emphasising the take-off of its next big delivery phase.

In the words of Hydrogen Council co-chair Jaehoon Chang, who is also vice-chair of Hyundai Motor Group, “we stand at a pivotal moment for the scale-up of the hydrogen industry”, while second co-chair François Jackow, who is also CEO of Air Liquide, declared the words “lead, build, and deliver" as the council’s new mandate. 

As the newest board member, Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli hailed hydrogen as “a versatile, clean energy vector that we firmly believe has the potential to drive meaningful industrial outcomes, from fostering economic growth to reducing emissions and transforming power generation”, while Hydrogen Council CEO Ivana Jemelkova let it be known that “strong projects are moving forward”, with this month's alone including:

• Kawaski Heavy Industries signing an agreement with Japan Suiso Energy to build the world’s largest liquefied hydrogen carrier, with a capacity of 40 000 m³. The vessel is designed to significantly increase liquefied hydrogen transport capacity and marks an important step toward scaling international hydrogen shipping infrastructure.
• Uniper signing a long-term binding offtake agreement with AM Green Group for up to 500 000 t/y of renewable ammonia from India, with first deliveries expected from 2028. The agreement helps anchor one of the first large-scale supply corridors between India and Europe and supports decarbonisation across chemicals, refining, and fertiliser value chains.
• Partial production starting at Egypt’s 100 MW renewable hydrogen and ammonia project in Ain Sokhna. This project, which is being commissioned by Scatec ASA and backed by the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Orascom Construction plc, and Fertiglobe, is designed to supply renewable hydrogen into ammonia production for export to Europe under long-term contracts supported by Germany’s H2Global mechanism.
• SK Innovation announcing a $300-million investment alongside the Sylvan group to scale hydrogen mobility in South Korea through the SK Hyverse platform. The initiative plans to deploy 29 liquefied hydrogen refuelling hubs and support more than 6 000 hydrogen-powered buses by 2029, targeting high-utilisation public transport applications.

Meanwhile, the Hydrogen Council is focused on unlocking demand through policy action, putting in place pragmatic regulations, building out infrastructure, aligning on global standards, and fostering strong public-private partnerships, with its announcement out of Brussels following closely on the heels of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, where South African President Cyril Ramaphosa positioned green hydrogen at the centre of Africa’s big energy opportunity, doing so during a top-level, on-stage interface with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

It also follows Miller's B20 and G20 drive around Johannesburg in a platinum-based fuel cell electric Toyota Mirai, which was fuelled by hydrogen from Sasol, dispensed by Air Products. In addition, South Africa's women-led Bambili Energy provided locally manufactured membrane electrode assemblies needed in the fuel cells that German giant Bosch provided. With BMW, these companies are all collaborating partners within a key mine-to-market green mobility ecosystem.

Interestingly, Toyota Motor Corporation is also a Hydrogen Council board member, along with an alliance of 140 big-name companies that have a collective market capitalisation of $9-trillion.

The council’s mission is to make the world cleaner, more secure and resilient, with hydrogen as a critical contributor and enabler. By providing clarity on the path to scale, fostering supportive policy and regulatory frameworks, and building partnerships needed to advance hydrogen deployment worldwide, the council acts as a market catalyst and voice industry.

Meanwhile, Japan is sending a very clear demand signal for clean molecules, Envision Energy senior VP Frank Yu states on LinkedIn.

Through the Hydrogen Society Promotion Act, Japan is implementing “price-gap” support that is designed to bridge the cost difference between low-carbon hydrogen and derivatives including low-carbon ammonia, and conventional fuels, with a long-term support period.

“This matters because it solves one hard part in early hydrogen market: bankability. If demand can be de-risked, supply chains can scale faster, and it can support power, industry, and later also shipping,” notes Yu, whose Envision is scaling up green hydrogen and green ammonia.

“For 2026, my feeling is Japan is moving from ambition to execution. Policy is not only a target now, it is becoming a mechanism to unlock investment," Yu adds.

“Companies are advancing projects, securing offtake, investing in enabling infrastructure and moving assets closer to commissioning,” Jemelkova pointed out with regard to the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.