Brussels, March 14, 2018: Haval, China's leading SUV manufacturer, has become the first Chinese automotive manufacturer to join the Hydrogen Council.
Launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in early 2017, the Hydrogen Council is a global CEO initiative to foster the role of hydrogen technologies in the global energy transition.
Since its launch in early 2017, the Hydrogen Council has doubled in size, now covering all key markets with members across the value chain. In addition to their ongoing individual investments and projects, this year will see Council members join forces to drive change, accelerating the pace on a global scale.
"We are delighted to welcome such impressive growth and the strong CEO-level commitment to hydrogen this demonstrates. This is corporate leadership at scale – multinationals are walking the talk when it comes to building better solutions to address the Paris Agreement climate goals and hydrogen has become an integral part of our strategies." said Dr Woong-chul Yang, Co-Chair of the Hydrogen Council and Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Company.
"With increasing interest from policy makers and investors around the globe, the next five to ten years could see a decisive shift in deployment of hydrogen technologies.
"Our scenarios suggest that hydrogen technologies could contribute to meeting 18 percent of the world's final energy demands, avoiding 6 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions, creating a market with revenues of 2.5 trillion dollars each year and providing 30 million jobs by mid-century," he said.
Benoît Potier, Co-Chair of the Hydrogen Council, said "I am pleased to see more and more leading companies around the world committing to the development of hydrogen, recognizing it as a key solution to the energy transition.
"Since its launch one year ago, the Council has been able to build strong momentum. Its active participation in high level international events such as the World Economic Forum, New York Climate Week, One Planet
Summit and Cop23, lead to major progress engaging with policy makers and governments.
"Our priority in 2018 will be to continue this rapid pace working alongside global partners and international organizations to help make hydrogen an everyday reality."
Haval – part of the GWM Group – is China's largest SUV and pickup truck manufacturer with more than four million vehicles sold globally under three brands: Great Wall, Haval and Wey. With five global R&D centres globally, the GWM Group is committed to advance cost-competitive technologies for all sustainable energy including fuel cell, EV and PHEV in China and worldwide.