One of the strongest impressions from the H2-diplo – Decarbonization Diplomacy study tour in Germany is seeing how the energy transition is reshaping entire industrial regions — not only power systems.

The Ruhr region, historically built on coal, steel, and heavy industry, is now becoming one of Europe’s largest laboratories for industrial decarbonization.

At the center of this transformation is hydrogen.

For decades, steel production depended on coal and coke as the foundation of the process. Today, Germany is gradually moving toward hydrogen-based direct reduction technologies (DRI), where hydrogen replaces coal in iron production — significantly reducing CO₂ emissions and changing the logic of industrial manufacturing itself.

This is not simply about cleaner energy. It is about modernizing industrial infrastructure, preserving industrial competitiveness, creating future export opportunities, and ensuring that traditional industrial regions remain economically viable in a decarbonized world.

A particularly important observation is the scale of public support behind this transition. Major industrial projects in Germany are being implemented not only through private investments, but also through large-scale government and regional funding mechanisms designed to accelerate industrial transformation.

For Ukraine, this discussion is highly relevant. Regions such as Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and historically Donbas were also built around metallurgy, mining, and large industrial ecosystems. As Europe moves toward low-carbon industrial production and mechanisms such as CBAM become fully operational, the future competitiveness of Ukrainian industry will increasingly depend on decarbonization pathways.

Hydrogen therefore becomes not only an energy topic, but also an industrial, economic, and strategic one.

The key challenge now is not whether the transformation will happen — but whether Ukraine will be among those shaping the future industrial landscape of Europe.