Hydrogen: Beyond The Hype
Where hydrogen fits on the pathway to a decarbonised future
Clean hydrogen has a vital role to play in the global energy transition. Renewables are powering more of our world than ever before, but not everything can be electrified. Sectors like transport and heavy industry require intensive energy that renewables can’t supply, making them especially hard to abate.
Hydrogen can help to decarbonise these more demanding aspects of our economy, but this vision of the future can't be realised by simply switching between energy types. Instead, we must transform our existing systems, building a new energy infrastructure across the globe.
As Ivana Jemelkova from Hydrogen Council explains, "We’re building a whole new dimension of the global energy system. It's like nothing we've ever done before." This may sound like a tall order, but the opportunity it presents is staggering.
So, what's it going to take to push hydrogen beyond the breakthrough?
Fellow contributor Mike Adams of climate technology specialists 8 Rivers is a firm believer in hydrogen’s potential to advance the energy transition, but points out that the industry’s current infrastructure needs to be redesigned to support clean hydrogen over its carbon-intensive alternatives.
An innovative project in Namibia offers a glimpse of what that infrastructure might look like. Toni Beukes of Hyphen outlines the potential impact of the gigawatt scale green hydrogen project which is produced using electrolysis powered by renewables instead of fossil fuels. For developing countries with an abundance of wind and solar resources, green hydrogen presents a great economic opportunity that could transform society.
One thing is clear; radical innovation is needed across the board, from technology and infrastructure to policy, regulations, and standardised measurement. Investment is also key to enabling progress.
Unlocking clean hydrogen’s true potential wouldn’t just support the transition to net zero – it could also be the catalyst for a new nature-positive industrial age.
With thanks to the following contributors:
Ivana Jemelkova from Hydrogen Council (a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Hydrogen Task Force)
Mike Adams from 8 Rivers (a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Hydrogen Task Force)
Toni Beukes from Hyphen Africa
Linde (a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Hydrogen Task Force)
