Further research article published

We are pleased to announce the publication of the article "Hydrogen Economy Index - A comparative assessment of the political and economic perspective in the MENA region for a clean hydrogen economy" in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Impact Factor 8.1, Cite Score 13.5). The publication by doctoral student Jakob Baumgarten(project E1) was written in cooperation with his supervisor Prof. Dominik Möst, Chair of Business Administration, esp. Energy Economics, and Christian P. Schneider from DRESDEN-concept partner UNU-FLORES.

The article examines criteria for the development of a hydrogen economy in the MENA region based on a multi-criteria, index-based approach using the PESTEL method. The developed hydrogen index is divided into three dimensions and considers economic, political, regulatory, technological and environmental criteria to assess the challenges and opportunities of the countries.

The results show that the Gulf states, followed by North African countries, lead the ranking, while politically unstable MENA states such as Libya, Syria and Yemen bring up the rear. Detailed regional analyses were carried out in order to compare the results with the current development of national hydrogen strategies and announced projects. An index comparison was carried out to validate the hydrogen index. The index can be expanded globally, whereby the authors recommend a reduction to a few, clearly defined and context-related country indicators in order to reduce the complexity of an index and ensure that the results can be interpreted (Occam's Razor principle). The research approach provides investors and policymakers with comprehensive insights for strategic decisions in the development of a sustainable hydrogen economy.

The article is available as open access under the following link:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.11.345