Green hydrogen is considered a clean, powerful, efficient and CO2-free energy carrier, which can be a great tool for combating climate change. Today, the International Energy Agency already considers that the production of green hydrogen from clean energy is gaining unprecedented momentum.
WORLD LEADERS IN HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
The global green hydrogen potential is already more than sufficient, although there are still some countries where the potential is restricted with low green hydrogen production.
Green hydrogen is expected to account for up to 12% of the world’s energy by 2050. Who is set to lead the way in green hydrogen?
China: the Asian country is the world’s leading producer of green hydrogen. Currently, its annual consumption is more than 24 million tonnes. Although most of the country’s production is “grey hydrogen”, i.e. it is generated with fossil fuels such as coal, this trend has been changing since 2019 as the country is developing more than 30 green hydrogen projects, produced from renewable energies.
The European Union: recognises that green hydrogen is a key technology and fundamental to achieving policy goals such as the European Green Deal. The EU plans to install 40 gigawatts of renewable hydrogen electrolyser capacity by 2030.
India: as stated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of the country’s National Hydrogen Mission in 2021, green hydrogen could help India achieve energy independence by 2047 and increase its commitment to renewable energy.
Japan: Japan’s national hydrogen strategy was made official in 2017. Although the country lacks the natural resources needed to achieve sufficient levels of wind or solar power to produce clean hydrogen on its own, it is developing long-term supply agreements to import hydrogen from abroad.
South Korea: For South Korea, hydrogen is the key driver of its economic development and job creation. They have set an ambitious target of installing 200,000 FCEVs by 2025. This figure implies a 20-fold increase of those installed in 2020. South Korea has plans for hydrogen to cover 10% of its cities’ energy needs within 8 years. It also plans to increase its share to 30% by 2040.
Green hydrogen promises to be a key factor in tackling future energy crises, such as the one we are currently experiencing in Europe, where growing demand has triggered a rise in fuel prices.