The German Bundesrechnungshof's special report on the implementation of the Federal Government's hydrogen strategy finds a ramp-up that is significantly lagging behind its own 2030 goals, despite several billion euros in annual subsidies. Domestic production and import targets for green hydrogen are both being missed, and without a binding requirement for gas-fired power stations to switch to hydrogen, a key driver of demand is absent; yet the planned hydrogen core network is still being built to a synchronised 2030 timetable despite likely low utilisation. Green hydrogen is not expected to become price-competitive with natural gas in the foreseeable future, making permanent public subsidy probable and exposing the federal budget to costs that could reach EUR 25 billion a year for imports alone, on top of a core-network financing mechanism that could add tens of billions more if the ramp-up fails. The Ministry largely agrees with the Bundesrechnungshof's assessment but has not specified how its announced adjustments to the market framework would work in practice, and an annual monitoring report on the ramp-up, promised since 2020, has still never been issued. The Bundesrechnungshof calls on the Federal Government to subject its hydrogen strategy to a reality check, implement the promised monitoring, and prepare a plan B for reaching climate neutrality by 2045 without a permanently subsidised hydrogen economy. The Bundesrechnungshof assessed the extent to which the Federal Government's planned ramp-up of the hydrogen economy appears realistic, measured against Section 1 of the Energy Industry Act, under which hydrogen supply must be as secure, affordable, environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral as possible. The audit covered supply, demand and infrastructure (chapter 2), the affordability of the ramp-up and its financing, including the core hydrogen network (chapter 3), and climate neutrality and environmental sustainability (chapter 4), against the backdrop of the National Hydrogen Strategy (NHS 2020, updated 2023) and the 2024 import strategy for hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy commented on the draft findings, and its comments and the Bundesrechnungshof's response to them are reflected throughout the report. EUR 4.3 billion allocated to the hydrogen ramp-up in 2024, more than EUR 3 billion in 2025 EUR 2.2 billion for domestic electrolysers (IPCEI Hydrogen), EUR 3.1 billion for imports (H2Global), EUR 5.6 billion for steel decarbonisation imported hydrogen projected at EUR 137-318 per MWh in 2030, against EUR 43-67 for natural gas including carbon allowances two-thirds of the hydrogen core network planned operational by 2030 no annual monitoring report issued since the 2020 strategy promised one from 2021 Energy Industry Act, Section 1 - supply as secure, affordable, environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral as possible National Hydrogen Strategy 2020 and its 2023 update, with the July 2024 import strategy the NHS 2020 commitment to an annual monitoring report from 2021 Federal Budget Code, Section 7 - requirements for programme evaluations price competitiveness of green hydrogen production and provisioning cost projections for 2030 the compensation gap against natural gas, carbon costs included who ultimately bears the cost of the ramp-up the amortisation account behind the core network synchronisation of supply, demand and infrastructure domestic production and import targets for 2030 expected industrial and energy-sector demand timing and utilisation of the hydrogen core network parallel pursuit of hydrogen-ready gas power stations and of CCS/CCU the annual monitoring of the ramp-up promised in 2020 mechanisms binding gas power stations to shift to hydrogen delivery of a secure, affordable and climate-neutral supply by 2030 a fallback plan for climate neutrality by 2045 The National Hydrogen Strategy adopted in 2020 "provided for an annual monitoring report on the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy starting in 2021. So far, no monitoring report has been issued" (1.2, p.11). The Bundesrechnungshof recommends that, "given the climate-related, economic and fiscal significance of the hydrogen economy, the Federal Government should eventually implement the monitoring of the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy as laid out in its national hydrogen strategy 2020... This monitoring must meet the budgetary requirements for programme evaluations as stipulated in Section 7 of the Federal Budget Code" (2.5, p.29). The Federal Government "is currently failing to meet its targets for domestic production of green hydrogen. It is also unable to cover the expected demand through imports" (Summary, p.5). Despite this, "in light of the expected low supply and demand, the development of the hydrogen core network is not proceeding in a synchronised manner: already in 2030, two-thirds of the network shall be operational, despite a likely low utilisation" (Summary, p.6). "Without binding provisions stipulating that gas power stations shift to hydrogen, a key driver of demand is missing, which hampers the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy" (Summary, p.6). Consequently, "without binding provisions on the future use of hydrogen, the Federal Network Agency is unable to design the core network in line with demand. This creates the risk of pipelines being underutilized or not used at all" (2.5, p.28). "Expectations that green hydrogen would become price-competitive have not been met. Instead, hydrogen is likely to remain costly in the future. As a result, permanent public subsidies are likely. For instance, the funds required to compensate for the price difference between green hydrogen and natural gas could amount to between EUR 3 billion and EUR 25 billion per year - just for imports" (Summary, p.6). Annual allocations already reached EUR 4.3 billion in 2024 and more than EUR 3 billion in 2025, alongside multi-billion-euro long-term commitments (Summary, p.6). Network operators "will initially be reimbursed for part of their network costs via a temporary compensation mechanism (interim financing), funded by a government-backed loan (the so-called amortisation account)" repaid as network use increases; "if the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy fails, the financing mechanism could place an additional burden on the federal budget, potentially amounting to tens of billions of euros" (Summary, p.6-7). The Ministry "announced that it would adjust the market framework and its mix of policy instruments. Nevertheless, it considered that even these measures would not be able to offset the price difference between green or blue hydrogen and fossil alternatives" (Summary, p.7). The Bundesrechnungshof notes that "despite the Ministry's comments and the 10-point plan, the details remain largely unclear" and expects the announced measures to be very time-consuming to design and implement (2.5, p.28). Studies suggest that "importing green hydrogen in particular may involve substantial emissions along the supply chain", and since the Federal Government plans to meet at least half its hydrogen demand through imports, "this poses a significant risk to achieving a climate-neutral energy supply" (Summary, p.7). In the H2Global programme, sustainability criteria "were adjusted during the first tender round, following consultations with the Ministry, in order to attract more bids", primarily affecting biodiversity-protection and renewable-electricity criteria (4.2, p.42).