Renewable Energy
Zeroing-in on climate neutrality with hydrogen Recent efforts highlighted at COP26 2021 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) raised hopes that it may be possible to achieve the global 1.5°C climate limit using hydrogen technology, according to Angelica Buan in this report.
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here may not be a silver bullet to carbon neutralising the world but major economies already have their policies set on adopting clean hydrogen (H2) energy as soon and as widely as possible. While it is renewable, efficient, and produces no harmful emissions, it can be costly to produce, flammable, and difficult to store and transport. However, proponents of H2 believe that these obstacles can be overcome. To reshape the global energy system, the government and industry will need to work closely together. Clean H2 deployment will be accelerated if policymakers develop a solid investment and action framework. Global demand for renewable and hydrogen energy green hydrogen is projected
Hydrogen to help reduce global carbon to increase by 50% in the next decade by over 20% The development of the hydrogen economy is energy technologies like renewable power, biofuels, critical for cost-effective and efficient global carbon and energy efficiency improvements, according to reduction, allowing nations to reach their carbon the Hydrogen for Net Zero report by the Hydrogen neutrality targets, stimulate green economy, and Council and McKinsey & Company. create long-term jobs, according to the Hydrogen The report stated that clean H2, which has an Council. The latter is a global CEO-led initiative of “annual abatement potential” of 7 Gt in 2050, could 123 companies from over 20 countries and across provide the “lowest-cost” decarbonisation solution the entire hydrogen value chain, which promotes for over a fifth of final energy demand by midH2 as a means of accelerating the clean energy century, resulting in a total reduction of 80 Gt CO2, transition. and is thus a critical solution for achieving the 1.5°C Global demand for renewable and low-carbon climate scenario. This will necessitate a large scaleH2 could increase by 50% in the next decade. In up of clean hydrogen production in the coming 2050, China will be the largest hydrogen market, decades, or a tenfold increase over the currently followed by Europe and North America, accounting installed 2.8 TW of H2 capacities will be required. for roughly 60% of global demand. The potential The report added that H2 rollout will not be emission reductions for H2 in 2030 could be feasible without the right regulatory framework in 800 million tonnes/year of CO2 emissions, the place, with governments and businesses to take organisation said. action. A set of appropriate policies is included Clean H2 is the only long-term, scalable, and in the requirements, such as mandates and cost-effective option for deep decarbonisation strong carbon pricing, large-scale infrastructure in sectors like steel, maritime, aviation, and development, and de-risking and focused support ammonia, and it augments other low-carbon for large initial investments.
DECEMBER 2021
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