Hydrogen is a versatile energy carrier, which can help to tackle various critical energy challenges. Hydrogen can be produced from almost all energy resources, though today’s use of hydrogen in oil refining and chemical production is mostly covered by hydrogen from fossil fuels, with significant associated CO2 emissions.

Clean hydrogen, being produced from renewables, nuclear or fossil fuels with CCUS, can help to decarbonise a range of sectors, including long-haul transport, chemicals, iron and steel, where it is proven difficult to reduce emissions. Hydrogen can also help to improve air quality in cities and improve energy security. Hydrogen can also support the integration of variable renewables in the electricity system, being one of the very few options for storing electricity over days, weeks or months. Today hydrogen is mainly used in the refining and chemical sectors and produced from fossils, accounting for 6% of global natural gas use and 2% of coal consumption and being responsible for 830 MtCO2 of annual CO2 emissions. Scale-up will be critical to bring down the costs of technologies for producing and using clean hydrogen, such as electrolysers, fuel cells and hydrogen production with CCUS.

[Source : International Energy Agency - Last updated May 12, 2021]
[https://www.iea.org/fuels-and-technologies/hydrogen]