Green Hydrogen Economy and Sustainable Development: a Research Agenda Based on Bibliometrics of Scopus Data

Abstract

The objective of the study was to map the scientific production on the Green Hydrogen Economy and propose a research agenda for the field of Management from the perspective of Sustainable Development. The research is characterized as a quantitative study, using the bibliometric method. In the survey of publications, in August 2023, the terms ‘Green hydrogen’ and ‘Economy’ were searched for in the title, keywords and abstracts of the publications, identifying 469 publications, which correspond to the sample of the present study. The analysis was carried out using the bibliometric methods presented by Zupic and Cater (2015), using the VOSviewer software, version 1.6.17. There was an exponential growth in publications on the topic from 2019 onwards, with a predominance of publications by researchers from China, Germany and the United States. It is worth noting that the USA and China are the most polluting countries in the world, and Germany has been among the countries that lead investments in H2V. The growing adhesion of new countries and researchers has structured a thriving network of relationships, citations and co-production of knowledge. However, research is still restricted to technical issues and small-scale experiments. There is a gap in the congruence of studies relating H2V and Management. Although the technical solutions to enable the production and distribution of H2V in the domestic and international markets come essentially from areas such as engineering, energy and the environment, the study of management throughout the H2V value chain is essential to support research on the H2V Economy from the perspective of sustainable development. The main topics for the agenda of future studies are to delve deeper into the other dimensions of Sachs' sustainability, in addition to the environmental dimension. Management should also be considered from the perspective of sustainable development, extending the research to areas such as technology, marketing, global value chain and international business.