Women in green hydrogen: 'Why are they only putting men on the panel?'

"My whole career has been in green hydrogen," says Carla Reihle from her home office in Wiesbaden. By day, she is Management Coordinator to the Board of Directors at major player Hy2gen. In her free time, she is chairwoman of the Women in Green Hydrogen network (WiGH), an NGO pursuing greater representation and opportunity for women in the male-dominated sector.

A familiar origin story

WiGH was founded in 2019 for a reason many women in STEM fields will recognise. The co-founders were noticing that, even though women are better represented in the renewable energy workforce (32%) compared to other energy sectors like oil and gas (22%), at all the green hydrogen conferences the panels were still dominated by men.

"There are already women (in the sector), so why are they only putting men on the panel?" says Reihle.

From that, WiGH was born, first as a crowd-sourced database of experts that panel organisers could draw from. The network quickly began organising its own events and workshops, partnering with bigger players, and launched a mentoring programme – pairing new entrants with veterans in the sector.

"We want to give women the room to exchange," says Reihle. "We want to make them feel seen and feel like there is a community, that they're not alone."

The network now counts 1,100 women in its expert database, has held over fifty events and has over 11,000 followers on LinkedIn. It has also spawned chapters in Africa, South Asia and Latin America.

The network has, up until now, been a volunteer effort. Reihle says they are looking to change that now, pursuing funding opportunities and partnerships to further build and professionalise the network.

Needs a push forward

While gender representation in green hydrogen leaves something to be desired, it is still better than a lot of 'legacy' energy and STEM sectors. And there certainly has been strong progress, with several recent high-profile leadership appointments.

Among those is Ivana Jemelkova, who was appointed CEO of the Hydrogen Council in 2024, as well as Astrid Hartwijk, named chief operating officer of Hy2gen in 2025, after spending decades in fossil fuels.

Hartwijk tells Impact Loop that she thinks in renewables "there is this more purpose-driven approach, working together more, more empowerment. And of course in the fossil industry, that is not the case." This might partially explain the better representation in renewables.

We have to help them, we have to bring them in, and we also have to bring them up

Nonetheless, the sector still needs to push forward, she says. One of the main issues – especially when it comes to leadership – is that a lot of the expertise in green hydrogen is drawn from legacy energy and industrial sectors, where there is more experience build-up, and which are more male-dominated.

Hartwijk also points out that many of the big green hydrogen players operate in countries (particularly in Western Europe) with hierarchical corporate cultures, exacerbating the imbalance.

She cites examples where external recruitment agencies have come to her with a list of candidates for an opening, and recalls being dismayed to see they were all men. In those moments, "I say, 'you go back.' I'm just not accepting a shortlist that has only guys on it. I want to see at least three ladies on it, or more other diverse backgrounds."

For women in her position, Hartwijk feels there is a responsibility to act as role models and show that the sector is open to people with diverse backgrounds.

"We have to help them, we have to bring them in, and we also have to bring them up."

Mentoring the next generation

One of those new entrants into green hydrogen is Luciana Tapia Rattaro, a renewables lawyer normally based in Buenos Aires. Having recently graduated, and unsure of her next step, she reached out to the WiGH network's mentoring programme and was matched with Ruth Rain, a veteran in renewable energy financing based in Chile.

"I realised I wanted to change my career path – from working in law firms to exploring different roles within the energy industry – and was struggling to find my way," Tapia Rattaro tells Impact Loop. "Ruth guided me through thoughtful decision-making situations and provided me with a calm and supporting space to discuss my doubts and questions."

Tapia Rattaro – who for the next year will be a Yale Fox International Fellow in Connecticut – says that the advice, perspectives and support of more experienced people in the sector helps to build the confidence of young entrants like her, at a critical time for the industry.

When it comes to the future, Astrid Hartwijk, who spent a long time in more male-dominated spaces than green hydrogen, says she's feeling positive.

"When you're just one out of ten in a group and you're the one, you might as well be zero," says Hartwijk. "But when you're three out of ten, then your voice will be heard and I think in the renewable space, we're reaching that level."

(Pictured, left to right: Carla Reihle, Astrid Hartwijk, Luciana Tapia Rattaro.)