Weak Emissions Accounting Can Undermine Hydrogen’s Role in Global Decarbonisation
Emissions intensity frameworks that govern ‘clean’ hydrogen deployment will directly determine its global decarbonisation impact.
4 September 2024
To lower carbon emissions in key sectors like steel, shipping, aviation and fertilisers, we need clear and rigorous standards for truly clean hydrogen.
This report, developed by the Green Hydrogen Catapult and GH2 with analysis led by RMI underscores the importance of robust measuring, monitoring, and verification of emissions to ensure that truly clean hydrogen can lead to national decarbonisation objectives.
Establishing clear and rigorous standards for clean hydrogen is crucial for enabling green hydrogen to replace fossil fuels and ensure that fuel-switching reduces carbon emissions in steel, shipping, aviation, fertilisers and energy storage for grid balancing. The potential for emissions reductions from hydrogen largely depends on its production method: hydrogen made with renewable energy (green hydrogen) can achieve near-zero emissions, while hydrogen produced from natural gas (blue hydrogen) depends on the efficiency of upstream methane leakage controls and carbon capture. Effective monitoring and verification of emissions throughout the hydrogen value chain are essential to ensure that the standards applied are robust and accurate.
Governments and international organisations are working to finalise standards and accounting frameworks to assess hydrogen's carbon intensity. It is vital that these frameworks address gaps, such as incomplete life-cycle emissions assessments and inconsistent definitions across markets, which can lead to inaccuracies in emissions reporting and inefficiencies in clean hydrogen and hydrogen-derivative trade. This report demonstrates how policymakers can address these issues to ensure that clean hydrogen is truly decarbonised, supports a level playing field, and contributes to industrial competition and energy security goals.
Some key findings:
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Blue hydrogen imports from most countries (except for perhaps Norway) will not help Europe reach its decarbonization objectives and may stall emissions reductions across heavy industry and transport.
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Combusting blue hydrogen in turbines for power generation in Japan and South Korea may be worse than burning coal or LNG for power from an emissions perspective.
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With currently-proposed standards, Japan and South Korea risk underestimating nearly 50% of hydrogen’s lifecycle emissions.
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When calculating hydrogen’s emissions intensity, locking in theoretical upstream methane leakage values leads to perverse incentives for developers and will allow certain high emission hydrogen products to qualify as “clean,” seriously jeopardising climate ambitions.