- The EU has approved up to €1.4 billion in public funding specifically for mobility and transport applications of hydrogen through a new project “IPCEI Hy2Move” (Press release 28 May 2024)
- The NZ Climate Change Commission has released the 2023 advice for the Government’s second emission reduction plan covering 2026 – 2030 (12 December 2023)
- IEA has released their Global Hydrogen Review 2023 (September 2023)
- New Zealand’s Interim Hydrogen Roadmap has been released for consultation, you can find the roadmap document and provide feedback here (9 August 2023).
- EY have an interesting article about ‘Six ways that governments can drive the green transition’ that you can read here (13 May 2022)
- IPCC released their ‘AR6 Synthesis report: Climate Change 2023’ (March 2023). A few of the key statements in this report include:
“B.6 All global modelled pathways that limit warming to 1.5°C (>50%) with no or limited overshoot, and those that limit warming to 2°C (>67%), involve rapid and deep and, in most cases, immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors this decade. Global net zero CO2 emissions are reached for these pathway categories, in the early 2050s and around the early 2070s, respectively. (high confidence)
C.1 Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health (very high confidence). There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all (very high confidence). Climate resilient development integrates adaptation and mitigation to advance sustainable development for all, and is enabled by increased international cooperation including improved access to adequate financial resources, particularly for vulnerable regions, sectors and groups, and inclusive governance and coordinated policies (high confidence). The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years (high confidence).
C.3 Rapid and far-reaching transitions across all sectors and systems are necessary to achieve deep and sustained emissions reductions and secure a liveable and sustainable future for all. These system transitions involve a significant upscaling of a wide portfolio of mitigation and adaptation options. Feasible, effective, and low-cost options for mitigation and adaptation are already available, with differences across systems and regions. (high confidence)”
- A 28.5 million euro grant from the BMWK, Germany, will enable the construction of the “Reference Power Plant Lusatia” (RefLau, German), a pilot project for the use of hydrogen for energy storage, along with anticipated coupling to other sectors (Brandenburg University of Technology 22 Feb 2023)
- Germany will provide 550 million Euro for two new Power-to-X (PtX) funds, with green hydrogen investment funding for both developing economies and global infrastructure (BMWK 15 Nov 2022)
- Hydrogen rush could shift world energy order (Newsroom 14 Nov 2022). There’s the opportunity for fossil fuel importing countries to become sustainable energy exporters, while current fossil fuel exporters may become sustainable energy importers.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced more funding for H2Global to help boost the global hydrogen ramp-up (EURACTIV 9 Nov 2022)
- German Institute for International and Security Affairs “The hydrogen ambitions of the Gulf States” (21 July 2022)
- EU Commission has approved first hydrogen IPCEI, “Hy2Tech“, which will fund 41 projects worth 5.4 billion Euro. An additional 8.8 billion Euro are expected from private sector. The IPCEI maps the entire hydrogen value chain: generation, storage, transport and use. Four German companies are represented: BoschPowerUnits, Sunfire, Daimler Truck and Ekpo Fuel Cell Technologies. This is an important step towards market ramp-up of the hydrogen economy. This should create around 20,000 direct jobs (VDMA, 21 July 2022)
- Germany’s minister for education and research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, says Germany is looking to speed up green hydrogen development in Australia, hoping for commercial scale production of green H2 by 2030 if not sooner, initially for their steel industry, in response to the Ukraine situation (Reuters, 27 May 2022).
- Growing Australia’s H2 industry – Govt investing AUD$1.4 billion in building H2 industry, growing it to position Australia as a major player by 2030 (Australian Govt).
- Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) draft report concerning the next steps to incorporating hydrogen and renewable gases into the Australian market (31Mar2022)
- US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen joint press statement, including green H2 in existing pipelines (26Mar2022)
- ARENA announce HyGATE = German (Euro 50 million) – Australia (AUD$50 million) investment to support real-world pilot, trial and demonstration projects along the H2 supply chain and facilitate German-Australia partnerships (9 March 2022). Germany also has agreements with UK, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.
- Germany invests Euro900million in H2Global, a green hydrogen purchasing instrument (10 year contracts), expected to initially run at a loss which the German Govt will cover for a a max of 10 years (Dec 2021)
- Australia-Germany commit $50million AUD and Euro50million (respectively) to H2 projects (Reuters, 23 Nov 2021). See HySupply and HyGate.
- IEA releases Global Hydrogen Review 2021 (Nov 2021)
- Energy in New Zealand 2021 (Aug 2021)
- NZ aims for 100% renewable electricity by 2030 (Labour party policy)
- Concerns re UK commitment to ‘blue‘ H2 (The Guardian, 12 August 2021)
- US commits $8bn to develop “clean hydrogen”, but this includes ‘blue‘ H2… (The Guardian, 12 August 2021)
- The NZ Hydrogen Opportunity report commissioned by Contact and Meridian (July 2021)
- A nine-point plan for the UK to achieve net zero carbon emissions
- Japan‘s commitment to green hydrogen (Wall St Journal, June 2021)
- Japan’s commitment to hydrogen
- UAE commits to becoming major H2 producer and exporter (CCS; blue and green H2)
- Germany commits to H2
- German National Hydrogen strategy
- German economic affairs minister
