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strategic and move faster. carbon commitments.
Research released from the IEA Net Government departments must
Zero by 2050 report recommends that work together in creating streamlined,
fuel-switching to hydrogen and carbon ambitious strategies to support the
capture can both play a major role in overall delivery of hydrogen at scale,
decarbonising emissions from industry. supporting the implementation of both
Decarbonising industry across the blue and green hydrogen.
UK will be one of the most challenging
and critical factors to achieving net zero HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To ensure sufficient supply to meet
It will require a range of energy demand, the UK must ramp up
solutions and policy levers to its existing hydrogen production,
ensure the UK remains competitive combining it with CCUS to keep carbon
for business but also meets the dioxide levels low.
government’s net zero targets. To support the government’s twin-
Hydrogen has a vital role to play track approach of blue and green
in those hard-to-reach sectors of hydrogen, it must also have the right
the UK economy, including the infrastructure in place for green
manufacturing industry, heating of hydrogen production from renewable
buildings and heavy transport. energy. Strong policy support will be
With the right framework and needed for CCUS to produce hydrogen
infrastructure in place, hydrogen has at scale and reach the cost targets for
the potential to provide between 25-50 emissions-free hydrogen production.
per cent of Britain’s energy supply by
2050, supporting the overall delivery
of net zero. The government states that to
keep industry on the journey
OPPORTUNITIES FROM THE UK’S INDUSTRIAL to net zero and meet its
DECARBONISATION STRATEGY carbon budgets and nationally
The Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy
is the first strategy published by a major determined contribution under
economy setting out how industry can the Paris Agreement, it expects
decarbonise in line with net zero while that emissions need to fall by
remaining competitive and without
exporting emissions abroad. around two thirds by 2035
The strategy sets out the
government’s vision for a prosperous, The government must provide
low carbon UK industrial sector in incentives and investments for those
2050, and provides industry with the implementing CCUS to become
long-term certainty it needs to invest in commercially viable. The UK is also
decarbonisation. uniquely placed to be a leader in the
The government states that to keep development of hydrogen production
industry on the journey to net zero and from offshore wind. This is due to
meet its carbon budgets and nationally the levels of offshore wind resources
determined contribution under the Paris available and currently being created
Agreement, it expects that emissions throughout the UK.
need to fall by around two thirds by 2035, The most significant barrier for
delivering this in a way that capitalises on renewable hydrogen is the cost of
contribution to global warming. clean growth opportunities. electrolysers. The shortage of large-scale
Reaching this target requires The strategy recognises that hydrogen facilities has meant an underdeveloped
extensive change across all sectors. energy can play an important role in supply chain, which has made
And there has been progress to date. delivering the government’s targets and equipment and production costly.
For example, recent analysis has notes that over the next decade, the Establishing a substantial hydrogen
shown that coal now accounts for less UK will begin the journey of switching infrastructure will require the
than two per cent of all electricity away from fossil fuel combustion to low development of sufficient transport and
generated in the UK, with coal use carbon alternatives such as hydrogen. storage facilities. The development and
collapsing 93 per cent since 2015. The strategy notes that with low expansion of methanol and ammonia in
While there has been clear and carbon hydrogen and CCUS at early the UK will present exciting opportunities
world-leading progress in areas such stages of development, the government both locally and internationally. This
as electricity supply, the pace of change will need to play an active role in could also be further aligned through
has been slower in industry. The Climate overcoming market failures and the growing nuclear sector in the UK,
Change Committee (CCC), in its 2020 sharing the risk and costs of scaling particularly through large-scale and small
progress report to Parliament, stated that up deployment of both technologies. modular reactors as well as advanced
industry accounted for 21 per cent of all It is essential that any forthcoming modular reactors.
UK emissions in 2019 and that industrial government and devolved policies must It has been recognised that
decarbonisation policy must be more be complementary of the wider UK low aligning hydrogen production with

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