According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), some 70 million tonnes of hydrogen are currently consumed worldwide. The problem is that almost all of this hydrogen is produced from coal or natural gas, that is, it is obtained by the most polluting techniques for the planet. Less than 1 % of the world’s production of this hydrogen is based on water electrolysis powered by renewable energies: only 0.1 % of the hydrogen we consume is green.
To give us an idea of what this means, the production of this grey hydrogen emits 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. This is the annual CO₂ emitted by the economies of Indonesia and the United Kingdom combined. Put another way, generating this hydrogen is equivalent to the pollution created by two countries with a total of more than 300 million inhabitants.
Given this alarming data, it is vital to understand the origin of the hydrogen. Green hydrogen can be an unrivalled tool to replace production models that contribute to climate change and help decarbonise energy consumption that is more resistant to electrification, such as heavy industry or long-haul transport.
