2030 Ambitions for Hydrogen, Clean Hydrogen, and Green Hydrogen

Abstract

Hydrogen production has been dominated by gray hydrogen (hydrogen produced from fossil fuels without carbon capture). Historical data for 2019–2021 show nearly steady global production of and demand for hydrogen, with an annual average of 92 Mt (million tonnes) for each. Both global hydrogen production and demand are expected to grow to 180 Mt in 2030 in compliance with the Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) scenario of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which aims to bring CO2 emissions down to net zero by 2050. Recently, green hydrogen (hydrogen produced via water electrolysis using electricity from renewables) has received increased attention, with the 11 countries (Australia, the United States, Spain, Canada, Chile, Egypt, Germany, India, Brazil, Oman, and Morocco) identified as top producers expected to produce 15.9534 Mt altogether in 2030. All of these countries, except Spain, Canada, and Germany, were classified by the global Hydrogen Council as having optimal green hydrogen production potential. Blue hydrogen (hydrogen produced from fossil fuels with carbon capture) and green hydrogen together constitute clean hydrogen. The share of clean hydrogen in global total final energy consumption (TFEC) was less than 0.1% in 2020. In alignment with the 1.5 °C pathway of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which aims to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, this share should grow to 3% in 2030 and 12% in 2050, with the aim of producing 154 Mt of clean hydrogen and its derivatives in 2030 (and 614 Mt in 2050) compared to only 0.8 Mt in 2020.

Keywords

• hydrogen
• clean hydrogen
• green hydrogen
• blue hydrogen
• gray hydrogen