Council of Experts: Green Hydrogen No Panacea
The Advisory Council on Environmental Issues (SRU) has dampened high hopes from parts of the political spectrum for the widespread use of green hydrogen. The energy carrier could indeed be an important building block in achieving climate neutrality. However, only in sectors where there are "no more efficient options for climate protection," as explained by the panel advising the federal government when handing over the report to Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD). The use in cars or building heating is not among these and is inefficient and significantly more expensive. About a third of the energy used is lost in the conversion of hydrogen.
"Political efforts should therefore focus on battery electric drives and create long-term planning security for them," the scientists demand.
In its statement titled "Hydrogen in Climate Protection: Quality over Quantity," the Environmental Council recommends concentrating all efforts on the market ramp-up of green hydrogen from wind and solar energy. Recently, the FDP and the Union had massively promoted the broad use of hydrogen, especially in the context of so-called Synfuels or P2X fuels in their election programs. However, the Union did not provide specific but necessary expansion figures for wind and solar power.
Central Role, but Not in Mass Deployment
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze makes a much more nuanced distinction. To become greenhouse gas neutral by 2045, Germany must do significantly more for climate protection, she stated. Green hydrogen will play a central role in areas where renewable electricity cannot be directly used. From today's perspective, this mainly includes the steel and chemical industries, or parts of transportation such as aviation and shipping. Here too SRU sees steel production as central, which accounts for six percent of Germany's total emissions and also in air, heavy-duty, and rail transport.
"The SRU also emphasizes that only 'green' hydrogen, i.e., hydrogen produced from renewable energies, is genuinely sustainable and climate-compatible. And even green hydrogen must be used as efficiently as possible. This also means: Those who say yes to green hydrogen must also say yes to more wind and solar plants."
The SRU experts also demand this. It is essential to massively accelerate the expansion of renewable energies in Germany to meet the increasing demand for green hydrogen. The government assumes that by 2030, a maximum of 16 percent of the required hydrogen can be produced domestically and that the much larger portion will have to be imported from countries with larger areas for wind and solar plants such as Australia, Chile, or Morocco. However, the transport routes must first be established, via pipelines for short and medium distances, partially technically complex via the existing natural gas network. Compressed and cooled, hydrogen could also be transported by ship to Europe.
Certification Needed: Avoiding Follow-Up Problems
According to SRU, a certification system with stringent sustainability criteria is necessary to ensure that the production of green hydrogen does not exacerbate environmental problems like land or water scarcity, such as the construction of plants in protected areas or areas with limited drinking water. This is particularly important for imports, the scientists warn. They even want to add another category, "dark green hydrogen": This would ensure environmental and social standards are met in the production itself.
According to SRU, it would be a wrong strategic decision to invest in hydrogen from fossil fuels. This type of production causes significant greenhouse gas emissions – even when hydrogen is produced from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS), known as "blue hydrogen," the experts say. There are also environmental and health risks associated with CO2 storage. To date, H2, primarily for the chemical industry, is produced 99 percent from natural gas, known as "gray hydrogen," with natural gas also being a fossil fuel.
Hope in H2: Government Heavily Subsidizes Research
The Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) is already promoting the ramp-up of a green hydrogen economy through significant funding measures. With the "Decarbonization of Industry" funding program, the climate protection contracts funding program under the Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfD) principle, and a program for electricity-based fuels (especially PtL) for aviation and shipping, only innovative, future-oriented projects that are compatible with the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045 are being funded.
The entire federal government aims to invest nine billion euros in promoting the technology with its "National Hydrogen Strategy," adopted just over a year ago, and to achieve market ramp-up by 2030. There are also hopes for export and job potential from the industrial production of electrolyzers needed for H2 production.
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