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Steel production, electricity generation, and transportation are hard-to-abate sectors largely contributing to global greenhouse gas emissions due to the current reliance on fossil fuels and high emission intensity of the current technologies employed in each respective sector. With nations pledging to combat climate change and reach net-zero emissions, alternative fuels such as hydrogen gained significant interest for decarbonization. Hence, countries around the globe announced policies and projects to expedite decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors and scale-up hydrogen production. However, which sector should be prioritized to incorporate hydrogen as decarbonizing solution in competing economies? Through a global compressive comparative analysis, this study evaluates multiple hydrogen production pathways decarbonization potential in the steel, electricity generation, and transportation sectors using country-specific data. 15 countries were selected in this study to show regional variability, diverse energy mix, difference in available resources, GDP and GDP per capita along with interest in hydrogen through announced policies and projects. The countries selected are: South Africa, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, Chile, Italy, Brazil, France, India, Japan, China, United States, Germany, and Australia. Our results suggest that hydrogen utilization in each sector should be tailored for each country’s current situation. In our analysis, for example, we demonstrate how hydrogen utilization scenarios in steel making show an increase in overall emissions in nations with low Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel production emission intensity such as the United States and France. In addition, we showcase how nations should consider blending green hydrogen with natural gas to achieve impactful emission reduction in natural gas electricity generation. Moreover, we show that all hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles light-duty vehicles reduce transportation associated emissions except when using grey hydrogen in nations with low annual mileage and high fuel economy, evidenced by the grey hydrogen scenario in Japan. This study serves as a guide for governments and policymakers to target impactful decarbonization in hard-to-abate sectors using hydrogen as well as select the best hydrogen production pathway to reach their emission reduction targets.