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HWWI Working Papers

On Bremen's Industrial Transformation: The Role of Hydrogen in Production

Stephen Sacht, Jan Wedemeier (2025),
HWWI Working Papers No. 1, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.

Hydrogen serves as an energy source and represents an important cornerstone for achieving the goal of maintaining a level of zero-carbon-dioxide emissions in industry production processes. Our analysis is based on the computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework and focuses on a partial switch to hydrogen used in production in northern Germany, particularly in the Bremen region. The simulation results indicate that Bremen’s chemical, steel, and copper industries could replace up to 1.5, 15, and 35%, respectively, of petroleum and natural gas with hydrogen, without negative effects on overall production, until 2032. The share of electricity based on renewable sources in the production of hydrogen amounts to approximately 74%. This step can be seen as required for the production of green hydrogen, i.e., in the absence of fossil energy sources.