By Maria João C. Pereira Rolim and Vivian Marcondes de Oliveira,
The climate crisis is a global challenge that, allied to the increase in world energy demand, requires the urgent finding of technological alternatives that will lead to the decarbonization of the energy sector with a sustainable pattern of development. Low– carbon hydrogen has emerged as one new key technological solution to the energy sector’s paramount task ahead. Brazil, as a country endowed with an abundance of renewable energy sources, in particular, solar and wind energy, and also critical natural resources such as rare metals, has seen a rise of low-carbon hydrogen as a strategic path to address the decarbonization target. This paper argues that despite the country’s extremely advantageous position in the global scenario, Brazil’s strategy along with its institutional, legal and regulatory structures need to keep pace with the ongoing global hydrogen race, transforming a comparative advantage into a feasibly competitive one, able to not only convey social and economic benefits to the country, but also contribute to the world’s decarbonization process.