Abstract
Green hydrogen will play a key role in building a climate-neutral energy-intensive industry, as key technologies for defossilising the production of steel and basic chemicals depend on it. Thus, policy-making needs to support the creation of a market for green hydrogen and its use in industry. However, it is unclear how appropriate policies should be designed, and a number of challenges need to be addressed. Based on an analysis of the ongoing German debate on hydrogen policies, this paper analyses how policy-making for green hydrogen development may support industry defossilisation. For the assessment of policy instruments, a simplified multi-criteria analysis (MCA) is used with an innovative approach that derives criteria from specific challenges. Four challenges and seven relevant policy instruments are identified. The results of the MCA reveal the potential of each of the selected instruments to address the challenges. The paper furthermore outlines how instruments might be combined in a policy package that supports industry defossilisation, creates synergies and avoids trade-offs. The paper’s impact may reach beyond the German case, as the challenges are not specific to the country. The results are relevant for policy-makers in other countries with energy-intensive industries aiming to set the course towards a hydrogen future.
Highlights
Emissions can be reduced initially by replacing the hydrogen from fossil sources currently used in production processes with green hydrogen and, thereafter, by producing fuels and basic materials from synthetic feedstocks based on green hydrogen and nonfossil carbon sources
This paper aims to contribute to the discussion by analysing whether policy instruments aimed at facilitating green hydrogen development are suitable for addressing the defossilisation needs of energy-intensive industries
The research aim of this paper is to identify key policy instruments in the field of green hydrogen in industry, which is widely discussed in reports and debates, and to evaluate them using a simplified multi-criteria analysis (MCA)
Summary
Green hydrogen and hydrogen-based synthetic fuels will play a key role in a future climate-neutral world, as they will help defossilise processes and applications where direct electrification is not possible for technical or economic reasons. Hydrogen can be used to avoid process emissions and to decarbonise heat and steam production. Primary steel production can become almost climate-neutral via the direct reduction of iron with green hydrogen [2]. Emissions can be reduced initially by replacing the hydrogen from fossil sources currently used in production processes with green hydrogen and, thereafter, by producing fuels and basic materials from synthetic feedstocks based on green hydrogen and nonfossil carbon sources. Green hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in the generation of high-temperature-process heat and steam [3]
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