While Canada’s hydrogen ambitions have sometimes moved in slow motion, a South Korean city is signalling it’s ready to accelerate the pace.
During a visit to British Columbia for the 2025 Invest Korea Summit, Ulsan Metropolitan City Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom said his city — already known as a leader in hydrogen mobility — is eager to partner with Canadian firms on both technology and supply.
“Ulsan is a city that consumes a lot of energy and already has the infrastructure needed for hydrogen mobility,” said Kim. “Canada is rich in ammonia and hydrogen, so Ulsan is very open to collaboration.”
The city aims to become the world’s leading hydrogen hub by 2030, and B.C.’s growing hydrogen cluster could play a key role.
Hydrogen activity across Canada
The federal government’s 2025 budget introduced a new investment tax credit of up to 30 per cent for clean-technology projects, including hydrogen. Meanwhile, the Pacific regional development agency, PacifiCan, granted $466,000 to the Canadian Hydrogen Association to help B.C. firms expand into export markets.
PacifiCan says B.C. is home to more than half of Canada’s hydrogen and fuel-cell companies, supporting roughly 1,350 full-time jobs.
Other provinces are also stepping in. Ontario has launched a new $30-million round of its Hydrogen Innovation Fund. Nova Scotia has committed $3 million to seven hydrogen projects. Simon Fraser University’s Clean Hydrogen Hub recently joined three other regional hydrogen hubs to form the Pan-Canadian Alliance of Hydrogen Hubs.
Hydrogen’s appeal lies in its clean combustion: it emits only water vapour when used as a fuel, though emissions depend on how it is produced. Canada’s innovators are pushing the limits — test-flying the world’s largest hydrogen-powered passenger plane and experimenting with trains and heavy trucks.
Hydrogen-powered deliveries
In B.C., hydrogen is already being tested on the road. Loblaw and FortisBC have launched the province’s first hydrogen-powered grocery delivery truck — a hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicle designed to test real-world performance on Lower Mainland-to-Squamish routes.
The truck, supported by FortisBC’s Clean Growth Innovation Fund, has logged hundreds of kilometres of zero-emission deliveries while collecting data on fuelling and operations. Partners include HTEC, the Alberta Motor Transport Association, the B.C. Trucking Association, Deloitte, Transport Canada, the province of B.C., and Hyundai Motor Company.
Funding includes a $30,000 contribution from FortisBC and support through Transport Canada’s Zero Emission Trucking Program and B.C.’s Innovative Clean Energy Fund. The truck is leased from HTEC and fuelled at HTEC’s Southeast Marine hydrogen station in Vancouver. The pilot runs through late November 2025.
Building the hydrogen backbone
HTEC, a key player in the sector, has opened B.C.’s first commercial-scale clean-hydrogen electrolyzer at its Burnaby transportation hub — Canada’s first hydrogen hub of its kind.
The one-tonne-per-day electrolyzer could reduce transportation emissions by more than 10,000 tonnes annually — a 90 per cent reduction compared to gasoline or diesel in fuel-cell vehicles.
B.C. government estimates suggest hydrogen could cut the province’s annual emissions by 7.2 million tonnes by 2050, equivalent to about 11 per cent of 2018 levels.
HTEC’s “H2 Gateway” program, backed by a $337-million loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank, aims to build hydrogen production infrastructure and 20 refuelling stations across B.C. and Alberta for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
Stations are already operating in Burnaby, Vancouver, North Vancouver, Victoria, and Kelowna, with supply coming from production sites in Burnaby, North Vancouver, Nanaimo, and Prince George.
Meanwhile, Canada’s first “natural hydrogen” well is being drilled in Saskatchewan. (Natural hydrogen, also called geologic or white hydrogen, is generated by geological processes and can be extracted by current drilling methods.)
Canada now produces some four million tonnes of hydrogen a year, most of it used in oil refining, ammonia/fertilizer production, and steel manufacturing.
The International Energy Agency says almost 100 million tonnes of hydrogen is being produced around the world each year and production is set to increase more than fivefold by 2030.
And the International Hydrogen Council reports: “Currently, more than 500 projects have advanced past Final Investment Decision (FID), with construction underway or operational.” And it says the hydrogen industry has surpassed US$110 billion in committed investment.
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