Editor's note: This is the first installment of a two-part series examining the future of green hydrogen in Europe. Part one outlines the potential benefits of green hydrogen and examines the obstacles to its full adoption in the bloc. Part two analyzes possible avenues for the development of a competitive global green hydrogen market and the impacts such a market would have on climate, geopolitics and energy security. The European Union is betting on green hydrogen to help reach its 2050 net-zero targets while maintaining industrial and economic competitiveness thanks to the fuel's potential to decarbonize hard-to-abate productive sectors of the economy, but significant constraints cast doubt over this strategy's viability. The European Union considers green hydrogen, which is hydrogen produced entirely using renewable energy resources, a pivotal element of its decarbonization strategy .