Plans laid out for Europe's green hydrogen future

A consortium of companies, including steelmaker ArcelorMittal, Swedish utility company Vattenfall, Shell, Airbus and other players have vowed to cut carbon emissions across various key sectors using green hydrogen.

The consortium will focus on a number of industries such as steelmaking and utilities and is one of a few plans to have arisen this week regarding Europe's green future.

Steel, in particular, is considered a "high-risk," or difficult to decarbonise, sector which currently stands as one of the manufacturing industry's primary hurdles for carbon-neutrality.

Read more: 86% of heavy industry not prepared for energy transition, TPI warns

The steelworks will be based in Hamburg and will operate using green hydrogen with the ability to save millions of tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere manually.

Hydrogen can be generated renewable through processes such as electrolysis, which converts wind energy - already a renewable source of energy - into a form that can be more malleable and applied to a greater number of industrial sectors.

The companies will work together to decarbonise their supply chains and work together. To achieve these ends, Vattenfall is set to converts its coal power plant into a green hydrogen hub, which will then deliver supplies of the fuel to Arcelor's Hamburg factory.

Steelmaking is currently one of the world's largest carbon polluters, being responsible for 8% of emissions according to 2018 data gathered from the World Steel Organisation.

The Utility sector - supplying things such as gas and electricity for commercial and personal use - have already begun to switch towards more renewable forms of generation such as solar and wind energy. Electricity generation, in particular, has seen an increase in personal generation in order to save on bills.

Airbus and Shell will join the value chain and being part of it will help them develop new products and assets forming part of their reduced carbon footprint and stop stagnation for more carbon-intensive processes.

Andre Walter, Head of Airbus's German commercial unit said in a statement: "For Airbus, hydrogen is a key technology for the aviation industry of the future. This is not only about the propulsion of aircraft, but also about the infrastructure of our production site."

Read more: How industrial innovation can drive the European Green Deal

Shell has also signed a separate agreement to join the "AquaDuctus" project - a proposal for a green hydrogen pipeline in the North Sea which could stand to supply green hydrogen to the continent.

As much as 10 GW of electrolysis capacity is set to be installed in offshore wind power to supply the project between Heligoland and the Dogger Bank farm, which is currently the world's largest offshore wind farm.

The farm could transport one million tonnes of green hydrogen manually from 2035 onwards, marking a substantial contribution towards the decarbonisation of energy supply in Germany and Europe.

Those involved consider it critical to Europe's carbon-neutral future.

The project is currently awaiting a feasibility study and is still very much in the concept stage. It is currently unknown if it will contribute to Shell's green hydrogen value chain as part of the proposed consortium or allow it a separate source of green hydrogen.

Currently, 48 companies, research institutions and organisations are taking part in the planning stage.

Green hydrogen initiatives form part of the European Green Deal - the EU's plans to become completely carbon-neutral by 2050.

The EU has just ratified its carbon-neutral goals and is set to enshrine them in law to allow as much time as possible for its plans to come to fruition.

Read more: EU to enshrine net-zero goals

The EU has also suggested a plan to work towards carbon-negativity once their net-zero plans are reached.

Many global players in both the public and private sectors have set in motion plans for decarbonisation by the mid-century.

This is to attempt to prevent a rise in global temperatures of at least 2°C - preferably as low as 1.5°C - in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.

However, analysts are predicting much more needs to be done in order to meet these goals.

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