Hydrogen in Society: Understanding the Social Acceptance of Hydrogen Futures
Submission deadline: Thursday, 31 December 2026
The pace of societal transition away from a reliance on fossil fuels towards lower-carbon options in many parts of the world is accelerating. Many national governments consider hydrogen and affiliated alternative liquid fuels (i.e., ammonia) to be a crucial component of a secure, equitable, low-carbon energy system. Indeed, the concept of the ‘hydrogen economy’ envisions hydrogen as a clean, versatile energy carrier that can support decarbonisation across the energy system, although particularly in hard-to-treat sectors, such as heavy industries (e.g., steelmaking) and long-haul transportation (e.g., shipping). Many governing administrations are now pursuing roadmaps towards more hydrogen-reliant futures, raising questions about societal readiness. For example, the need to produce, transport, store and use large amounts of hydrogen necessitates economic restructuring; the introduction of new policies, planning and governance structures; the deployment of new technologies and infrastructures; workforce development (incl. new roles and upskilling); supply chain evolution, among other things. Crucially, without appropriate societal backing, the ‘building blocks’ of this transition could face significant and potentially prohibitive hurdles. This is particularly true for Westernised democracies, where the attitudes and actions of societal actors are known to shape the ‘real world’ success of both innovative and established industrial scale technologies and policies.
While often considered in simplistic terms, social acceptance refers to a complex multi-actor and multi-level concept. Understanding the nature and determinants of social acceptance (or perhaps more accurately, ‘acceptances’), how it manifests (e.g., as tolerance, support, opposition) and the implications it has for decision-makers (e.g., in policy, planning, communications) thus remains an important topic. This is particularly true for hydrogen, where the potential societal impacts of a hydrogen transition are manifold, but where systematic academic study of societal perspectives is still emergent.
Environmental Psychology Research is calling for submissions of original studies (incl. systematic reviews) into the social acceptance of hydrogen and alternative liquid fuels (ammonia). Submissions can relate to any aspect of the hydrogen supply chain (incl. production, transportation, storage, and use) as well as wider aspects of the ‘hydrogen economy’ (e.g., policy, governance, regulation, investment, communications). For publication in Environmental Psychology Research, submissions must contain a psychological dimension; however, interdisciplinary contributions will be considered.
Note: This Special Issue is affiliated with the well-attended UK-HyRES / TARG:ET symposium on the social acceptance of hydrogen held at the University of Portsmouth (UK) on Thursday, 30th April 2026. You need not have attended this symposium to submit to this Special Issue.
Topics about social acceptance of hydrogen include but are not limited to:
- Public acceptance of hydrogen technologies or policies at the socio-political, community or household level
- Stakeholder perceptions and acceptance of the hydrogen transition (including implications for planning and investment decisions, etc.)
- Policy challenges relating to the hydrogen transition (including implications for and acceptance among societal actors)
- Hydrogen as part of a socio-technical system
- Communication, engagement and education challenges as they relate to the hydrogen transition
- The determinants of attitudes towards hydrogen technologies (e.g. Risk perception, trust and safety)
- Place-based factors (identity, attachment, distributive fairness and equity) and how they shape acceptance of hydrogen projects
- Adoption and use of hydrogen technologies (including user-experience)
Guest Editors:
Prof. Christopher Jones
University of Portsmouth
United Kingdom
Dr. Louisa Wood
University of Portsmouth
United Kingdom
Dr. Taalia Nadeem
University of Portsmouth
United Kingdom
Dr. Kate Whitman
University of Portsmouth
United Kingdom