Bureau Veritas, a global leader in testing, inspection and certification (TIC) services, has joined the Waterstof Industrie Cluster, an industrial partnership that unites companies, knowledge institutions, governments and authorities to collaborate on hydrogen.
Established in 2016, the Cluster (whose name translates as ‘Hydrogen Industry Cluster’) is positioning itself as the ‘voice’ of the developing hydrogen industry in Belgium and the Netherlands, encouraging collaboration amongst its 80 members to stimulate hydrogen projects as a storage medium for renewable energy and its use for zero-emission mobility, heat or industrial applications.
“Joining the Waterstof Industrie Cluster is a significant move for us,” says Nicole Van Klaveren, Bureau Veritas’ Business Development Director, North West Europe. “We exist to help our clients meet the challenges of safety, the environment, social responsibility and product or service quality.
“Underlying that expertise, in all our businesses, is the constant commitment to sustainability.
“Becoming the first TIC company to join this cluster is extremely important. We support our clients at every point in the supply chain so, through our membership, we can now begin to offer that same expertise throughout the hydrogen supply chain, from sourcing and generation to product use,” Nicole explains.
Through its ‘Green Line’ of services and solutions, Bureau Veritas helps clients to implement, measure and achieve sustainability objectives, enabling them to measure the impact of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) actions.
The company’s vital support role in the field of New Mobility, Resources & Production – the transition to greener transport – was instrumental in joining Waterstof Industrie Cluster: it represents a collaboration between two Bureau Veritas business divisions, Commodities, and Industry and Facilities.
“Transport accounts for approximately one-quarter of the world’s CO2 emissions[i],” points out Steven De Bruyn, Benelux sales director for Industry and Facilities. “Historically, we’ve used our expertise in the marine industry to support our clients in developing new energies for this sector, such as LNG.
“But increasingly we’re able to leverage that expertise of alternative fuels and energy sources into other sectors,” says Steven. “This New Mobility knowledge has underpinned our expansion into other disciplines, such as the portfolio of services we’ve developed for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations.”
Initially set up as a group of just 20 companies, today’s Waterstof Industrie Cluster comprises more than 80 members bringing together expertise from every part of the hydrogen value chain, including producers, those involved in transport and storage, and companies active in ‘hydrogen-tech’ and potential end-user applications.
Bureau Veritas is currently the only testing, inspection and certification member within the group, and joins other well-known global names involved in energy, transportation and technology, such as Total, Toyota, Alstom and ABB.
[i] Everything You Need to Know About the Fastest-Growing Source of Global Emissions: Transport, World Resources Institute, 2019