Green Hydrogen for Sustainable Development: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks

The report argues that market forces alone cannot guarantee sustainable development from green hydrogen, necessitating a proactive role for multilateral development banks (MDBs). It proposes a framework to move MDB lending beyond 'do no harm' toward prioritizing value addition for producer countries. The analysis includes a Sustainable Development Impact Matrix and evaluations of four specific financing cases: the African Development Bank in Namibia, the World Bank in India, the European Investment Bank’s Green Hydrogen Fund, and Team Europe’s H2Global Instrument.

• Green hydrogen production in Global South countries presents a dichotomy of potential outcomes: it can drive industrial development, job creation, and domestic decarbonisation, but may also lead to increased debt burdens, land and water stress, and the exacerbation of extractive trade relations.
• Multilateral development banks (MDBs) should shift their lending approach from a basic "do no harm" principle to one that actively prioritises value addition and champions sustainable development for producer countries.
• To secure positive sustainable development impacts, MDB engagement should be guided by high eligibility standards for projects, the support of national hydrogen strategies that reflect domestic priorities, the complementary use of financial and technical tools, and inter-bank cooperation to prevent duplication.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2024). Green Hydrogen for Sustainable Development: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/green-hydrogen-for-sustainable-development-the-role-of-multilateral

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. Green Hydrogen for Sustainable Development: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks. 2024. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/green-hydrogen-for-sustainable-development-the-role-of-multilateral.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=NewClimate Institute |title=Green Hydrogen for Sustainable Development: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks |date=16 May 2024 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/green-hydrogen-for-sustainable-development-the-role-of-multilateral |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newclimateinstitute2024green, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{Green Hydrogen for Sustainable Development: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2024}, month = may, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/green-hydrogen-for-sustainable-development-the-role-of-multilateral}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }