Executive Summary To accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy, all energy systems must be actively decarbonized. While hydrogen has been a staple in the energy and chemical industries for decades, clean hydrogen – defined as hydrogen produced from water electrolysis with zero-carbon electricity – has captured increasing political and business momentum as a versatile and sustainable energy carrier in the future carbon-free energy puzzle. But taking full advantage of this potential will require a coordinated effort between the public and private sectors focused on scaling technologies, reducing costs, deploying enabling infrastructure, and defining appropriate policies and market structures. Only in this way can we avoid replicating the system-wide inefficiencies of the past that have characterized regional approaches to deploying new energy infrastructure. Key findings include: • Clean hydrogen could play a significant role in an accelerated transition to a low carbon economy, particularly for hard-toabate sectors, and offers a path toward meeting national and international climate and pollution goals while avoiding reliance on imported fuels. • The two key challenges to clean hydrogen adoption and use at scale are currently its cost and limited infrastructure availability. Public concerns around safety might also present additional challenges to deployment. • From a market perspective, clean hydrogen, like natural gas, will initially flourish in regional markets with the corresponding potential for geopolitical conflicts.
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs | Harvard Kennedy School
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