Green hydrogen

Abstract

Green hydrogen is produced from water and solar, wind, and/or hydro energy via electrolysis and is considered to be a key component for reaching net zero by 2050. While green hydrogen currently represents only a few percent of all produced hydrogen, mainly from fossil fuels, significant investments into scaling up green hydrogen production, reaching some hundreds of billions of dollars, will drastically change this within the next 10 years with the price of green hydrogen being expected to fall from today’s US$ 5 per kg to US$ 1–2 per kg. The Australian Government announced a two billion Australian dollar fund for the production of green hydrogen, explicitly excluding projects to produce hydrogen from fossil fuels, like methane. This article reviews current perspectives regarding the production of green hydrogen and its carbon footprint, potential major applications of green hydrogen, and policy considerations in regards to guarantee of origin schemes for green hydrogen and hydrogen safety standards.