Hyundai Motor Co. joined forces with 12 multinational energy, transport and industry firms in a global initiative to promote hydrogen for clean and environment-friendly fuel transition.

The so-called Hydrogen Council was launched in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, also involving Air Liquide, Alstom, Anglo American, BMW GROUP, Daimler, ENGIE, Honda, Kawasaki, Royal Dutch Shell, The Linde Group, Total and Toyota, Hyundai said in a statement. Air Liquide and Toyota are inaugurating co-chairs.

The council is committed to help achieve the goal of reaching the 2 degrees Celsius target as agreed in the 2015 Paris agreement through development and commercialization of the hydrogen and fuel cells as carbon-free fuel alternative, it said.

Hydrogen is a versatile energy carrier which does not release any carbon dioxide (CO2) at the point of use as a clean fuel or energy source, and can play a crucial role in the transition to a clean, low-carbon energy system.

“But there were limitations before in popularization of the fuel cell vehicles by the automotive industry alone. Hydrogen Council will provide a platform where global business leaders in different sectors can cooperate together and accelerate the common goal of realizing the hydrogen economy.” said Yang Woong-chul, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor in responsible for R&D Center, in a keynote speech.

Currently, global market for fuel cell cars, or hydrogen-powered cars, is dominated by Hyundai Motor and Toyota. Hyundai Motor became the first company in the world to mass-produce fuel cell cars by unveiling Tucson ix in 2013. It plans to unveil a new hydrogen-powered car to coincide with the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Toyota launched its first fuel cell car “Mirai” in 2014 and set a goal to sell as many as 30,000 units by 2020.

By Lee Seung-hoon

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