The Hydrogen Economy Committee is a deliberative body under Seol Chi-doen (Prime Minister), established based on the Hydrogen Act (Act on Promotion of Hydrogen Economy and Safety Management of Hydrogen), enacted in February 2020. Following the government's release of the Hydrogen Economy Activation Roadmap in January 2019, it designed the committee as a control tower to support the creation of laws and systems backing the roadmap. Article 6 of the Hydrogen Act stipulates that the committee shall deliberate on the formulation and implementation of the basic plan for hydrogen economy execution, review and evaluation of progress, policy coordination among relevant ministries and local governments, international cooperation, and resolution of corporate grievances. Wi Won-jang-eun (Prime Minister) is responsible for this, with no more than 20 members appointed.
The committee was launched before the law took effect. The government established the committee first on July 1, 2020, approximately seven months ahead of the Hydrogen Act's enforcement date (February 5, 2021), based on a directive from the Prime Minister. At the inaugural meeting chaired by Jeong Se-gyun (Prime Minister), 11 initial private members, including Lee Jung-hyun, Senior Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor (now Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group), received their appointment letters. The meeting addressed six agenda items, including measures to strengthen competitiveness in the hydrogen industry ecosystem and designation of a dedicated institutional investor for the hydrogen economy.
Subsequently, the committee convened once or twice annually, shaping the framework of hydrogen policy. At its second meeting in October 2020, the introduction of the Hydrogen Power Obligation System (HPS) was decided. During the third meeting in March 2021, companies such as Hyundai Motor and SK announced plans to invest a total of 43.4 trillion won by 2030. At the fourth meeting in November of the same year, the first basic plan for hydrogen economy execution—the top-level hydrogen policy plan—was finalized.
The committee continued even after the change of administration. The fifth meeting held in November 2022 was the first under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration; it appointed 11 new private members for the second term, increasing the industry's representation from three to five members. At the sixth meeting in December 2023, measures for implementing the clean hydrogen certification system were decided. At the seventh meeting in November 2024, designation of Korea's first hydrogen-specialized industrial complex (Donghae and Samcheok in Gangwon Province, Pohang in Gyeongsangbuk-do) and a strategy for developing liquefied hydrogen carrier ships were finalized. During this period, an amended Hydrogen Act containing the legal basis for hydrogen power bidding markets passed the National Assembly in May 2022 and took effect in December of that year. The general hydrogen and clean hydrogen power bidding markets were launched globally for the first time in June 2023 and May 2024, respectively.
Since concluding its seventh meeting in November 2024, the committee has not convened again. Although the terms of the second-term members also ended that same month, appointments for a third term have not been made. Meanwhile, the supervising ministry changed. With the establishment of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment in October 2025, the committee's secretariat chair shifted from the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy to the Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment, and the chair of the working committee was changed to Gi Hu-bu (Vice Minister).
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