Accelerating the Clean Hydrogen Economy in Latin America

The report argues that Latin America is well-positioned to become a major global clean hydrogen exporter by 2050 due to its vast renewable energy resources and competitive production costs. It categorizes regional countries into three strategic pathways: net exporters (e.g., Chile, Argentina), local decarbonizers (e.g., Brazil, Colombia, Mexico), and focused players (e.g., Panama, Uruguay). Despite the potential, the region faces significant barriers, including low demand, insufficient dedicated infrastructure, high production costs compared to grey hydrogen, and a lack of standardized certification schemes. The document proposes a roadmap of enabling measures across six dimensions—standards, cost, technology, demand, infrastructure, and pace of development—and emphasizes regional collaboration and industrial clusters as key success factors for scaling the economy.

• Latin America has the potential to be a significant global clean hydrogen player, potentially fulfilling 25% to 33% of global demand by 2030.
• The region possesses a competitive advantage in production costs because renewable electricity, which accounts for 60% to 75% of total global production costs, is abundant in Latin America.
• Countries in the region are categorized into three development pathways: 'net exporters' aiming for international markets (Chile and Argentina), 'local decarbonizers' focusing on domestic emissions targets (Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico), and 'focused players' targeting specific applications like shipping (Panama and Uruguay).
• Chile is positioned to potentially produce the world's cheapest renewable/green hydrogen by 2050, leveraging a potential for over 1,800 GW of installed renewable energy capacity.
• Five primary challenges hinder the region's progress: low demand for local and export markets, slow development of dedicated infrastructure, dependence on international technology manufacturers, high cost differentials compared to grey hydrogen, and a lack of common standards and certifications.
• Technological effectiveness in the region is challenged by local conditions, such as poor water quality; one pilot project in Colombia saw an imported electrolyser operate at only 35% effectiveness.
• Regional collaboration is identified as a critical success factor, specifically through the use of industrial clusters to aggregate demand, share infrastructure, and reduce individual investment risks.
• The CertHiLAC initiative, launched in November 2023 by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Latin American Energy Organization, aims to create a regional certification system for clean hydrogen production.

APA

World Economic Forum (2024). Accelerating the Clean Hydrogen Economy in Latin America. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Accelerating_the_Clean_Hydrogen_Economy_in_Latin_America_2024.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Accelerating the Clean Hydrogen Economy in Latin America. 2024. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Accelerating_the_Clean_Hydrogen_Economy_in_Latin_America_2024.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Accelerating the Clean Hydrogen Economy in Latin America |date=August 2024 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Accelerating_the_Clean_Hydrogen_Economy_in_Latin_America_2024.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2024accelerating, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Accelerating the Clean Hydrogen Economy in Latin America}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Accelerating_the_Clean_Hydrogen_Economy_in_Latin_America_2024.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }