1. I ntroduction and Literature Review Since the signing of the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015, the global commitment to decarbonization has grown only stronger. Major economies such as Canada, the European Union, Japan, and the United Kingdom have passed laws requiring net-zero emissions targets to be achieved within the next forty years. Other governments like China and the United States have expressed similar intentions.3 These decisions have shifted the spotlight to the deep decarbonization of all energy sectors, including those with hard-to-abate emissions, and have thus renewed interest in clean hydrogen. Hydrogen is a versatile and sustainable energy carrier that has a variety of potential uses, both in mobility and stationary applications. Most importantly, it has the potential to tackle hard-to-abate emissions in sectors such as iron and steel production, high-temperature industrial heat, aviation, shipping, long-distance road transportation, and heat for buildings. These sectors account for over one-fourth of global CO2 emissions.4 While hydrogen has been a staple in the energy and chemical sectors for decades, it is attracting unprecedented attention from policymakers and businesses worldwide. As an example of this extraordinary momentum, in July 2021, McKinsey & Co. estimated that at least 359 large-scale hydrogen projects have been announced globally to date, amounting to 500 billion USD of associated investments through 2030.5 These announcements also reflect investors’ response to governments’ commitments to renewable hydrogen, with half of the world’s economies
3 Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (2021) “Net Zero Emissions Race,” Net Zero Tracker, accessed 20 September 2021. https://eciu.net/netzerotracker 4 Davis et al. (2018). 5 McKinsey and Co. study for Hydrogen Council (2021) “Hydrogen Insights – Executive Summary,” July 2021. https://hydrogencouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Hydrogen-Insights-July-2021-Executivesummary.pdf
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The Future of Renewable Hydrogen in the European Union
