UK Government announces plans for a world-leading hydrogen economy

The UK’s first-ever Hydrogen Strategy will unlock over £4 billion in investment and create thousands of jobs in the move to establish a thriving low carbon hydrogen sector in the UK by 2030.

The plan will drive forward the Prime Minister’s ambitious 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution by outlining how the UK government will cooperate with industry to achieve 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

A thriving, UK-wide hydrogen economy could be worth over £900 million and create over 9,000 high-quality jobs, which may rise to 100,000 jobs and be worth up to £13 billion by 2050.

The decarbonisation of polluting, energy-intensive industries by 2030 may be possible once these sectors move away from fossil fuels, and towards low-carbon hydrogen. Government funding of £105 million will be provided to support polluting industries slashing their emissions.

Government analysis has suggested that up to 30% of the UK’s energy consumption could be hydrogen-based by 2050. Therefore, this plan to create a low-carbon hydrogen economy could play a crucial role in helping meet our net zero emissions target by 2050 and cutting emissions by 78% by 2035.

Additionally, a hydrogen economy will be a key pillar in the UK’s transition to cleaner energy sources. This low-carbon hydrogen economy could save the equivalent to the carbon captured by 700 million trees by 2032.

Business & Energy Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “Today marks the start of the UK’s hydrogen revolution. This home-grown clean energy source has the potential to transform the way we power our lives and will be essential to tackling climate change and reaching Net Zero.”

Energy & Climate Change Minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said: “Today’s Hydrogen Strategy sends a strong signal globally that we are committed to building a thriving low carbon hydrogen economy that could deliver hundreds of thousands of high-quality green jobs, helps millions of homes transition to green energy, support our key industrial heartlands to move away from fossil fuels and bring in significant investment.”

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Want to hear from influential international speakers working on hydrogen projects and programmes as well as those developing energy and financial policies? Join us at the Hydrogen Transition Summit on the 11 November, a hybrid event taking place in Glasgow at COP26, by registering here.