Wood Mackenzie Hydrogen and Derivatives Analyst Flor Lucia De la Cruz has published an article urging the industry to look past colour labels as momentum builds around low-carbon hydrogen.

Entitled Over the rainbow: why understanding full value chain carbon intensity is trumping the colour of hydrogen, the article suggests that the future of low-carbon hydrogen hinges on governments putting in place regulations, subsidies, and other incentives tied to the carbon intensity ‒ rather than the colour ‒ of the hydrogen produced.

De la Cruz points out that while green hydrogen is, in principle, made using 100% renewable energy. In practice, what is described as ‘green’ can also be produced using power from a grid that relies heavily on fossil fuels. Therefore, green (electrolytic) hydrogen emissions can range from almost zero to levels beyond those of brown hydrogen.

What’s more, she says, the carbon intensity of hydrogen isn’t determined solely by how it’s produced. Its full life cycle emissions also include processing and transportation. For example, with over 40% of announced project capacity targeting exports, any future trade in hydrogen between say Australia and Northeast Asia or between the Middle East and Europe would involve significant shipping distances – and the associated emissions.

The European Union is already using full-cycle emissions to assess eligibility for incentives. Regulatory compliance and other hydrogen markets are likely to follow suit.

To avoid a two-tiered low-carbon hydrogen market as incentives and standards proliferate, the industry, requires ever more accurate project-level certification of carbon intensity. The body of the article offers a methodology to “go beyond the rainbow and establish hydrogen’s true colours.”

Read the full article.