Clean Hydrogen To Solve Climate Crisis: Turnbull

There is an alternative to fossil fuel-based hydrogen, which is renewable electrolytic green hydrogen, produced using water and renewable electricity.

Photo Insert: While Turnbull's statement stops short of setting a rigorous threshold today, it is a clear call for carbon dioxide and equivalent emissions from hydrogen production to reach near zero by the end of the decade.

By using wind, sun, or hydropower to produce hydrogen, an energy supply chain is created with very low emissions, argued former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in an opinion piece for The Guardian.

The Green Hydrogen Standard places an upper limit of 1kg CO2e per kg hydrogen produced and the plan is to lower this limit further.

Green hydrogen also offers energy security and price stability advantages to consumers.

The International Energy Agency, International Renewable Energy Agency and UN Climate Change High-Level Champions say that hydrogen production routes “will need to achieve verifiable low-carbon intensities that trend towards near zero by 2030.”

While this statement stops short of setting a rigorous threshold today, it is a clear call for carbon dioxide and equivalent emissions from hydrogen production to reach near zero by the end of the decade.

If supporters of blue hydrogen want to be part of the solution, they need to get behind this statement. If blue hydrogen meets this high standard then it has a role to play.

Norway’s Equinor claims it can produce blue hydrogen with just 0.6kg CO2e per kg hydrogen under certain conditions but this needs to be proven in the real world.

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