The government has launched the UK’s first-ever Hydrogen Strategy, setting out plans to invest in clean energy technology and create more than 9,000 jobs across the UK by 2030 while keeping costs low for consumers.
The UK’s first-ever Hydrogen Strategy drives forward the commitments laid out in the Prime Minister’s ambitious 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution by setting the foundation for how the UK government will work with industry to meet its ambition for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 – the equivalent of replacing natural gas in powering around 3 million UK homes each year as well as powering transport and businesses, particularly heavy industry.
MP for North East Bedfordshire and Member of the Business Select Committee, Richard Fuller said:
Hydrogen energy offers a homegrown, low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels which could provide a third of the UK’s energy in the future, making it a critical part of our plans to reach net zero by 2050.
This week's announcement of the UK’s first-every Hydrogen Strategy plans to invest more than £340 million into the clean energy technology and slash the emissions of industries like transport, manufacturing and construction while keeping energy costs as low as possible.
These plans will kickstart a hydrogen revolution, potentially creating hundreds of thousands of high-quality green jobs as we move away from fossil fuels and we build back greener.
A booming, UK-wide hydrogen economy could be worth £900 million and create over 9,000 high-quality jobs by 2030, potentially rising to 100,000 jobs and worth up to £13 billion by 2050. By 2030, hydrogen could play an important role in decarbonising polluting, energy-intensive industries like chemicals, oil refineries, power and heavy transport like shipping, HGV lorries and trains, by helping these sectors move away from fossil fuels. Low-carbon hydrogen provides opportunities for UK companies and workers across our industrial heartlands.
With government analysis suggesting that 20-35% of the UK’s energy consumption by 2050 could be hydrogen-based, this new energy source could be critical to meet our targets of net zero emissions by 2050 and cutting emissions by 78% by 2035 – a view shared by the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee. In the UK, a low-carbon hydrogen economy could deliver emissions savings equivalent to the carbon captured by 700 million trees by 2032 and is a key pillar of capitalising on cleaner energy sources as the UK moves away from fossil fuels.
As the hydrogen economy develops, all necessary assessments will be carried out and measures put in place to ensure that hydrogen is stored, distributed and used in a safe way. The UK government is already working with the Health and Safety Executive and energy regulator Ofgem to support industry to conduct first-of-a-kind hydrogen heating trials.
The Hydrogen Strategy is one of a series of strategies the UK government is publishing ahead of the UN Climate Summit COP26 taking place in Glasgow this November.
