Germany pumps $10 billion in hydrogen in bid to become global leader

Germany will provide $9.72 billion (€8 billion) to the 62 projects it has selected to reduce emissions in the transportation, steelmaking, and chemicals sectors.

Germany wants to become a global leader in hydrogen technology, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said, noting that the investment announced today is a step toward making Germany’s economy carbon neutral.

Through the use of hydrogen, Germany could save several million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually from the steelmaking and chemicals industries, Altmaier said.

“We are making Germany a hydrogen country,” Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer added.

A total of 95% of road traffic still depends on fossil fuels, so Germany needs mobility that relies on renewable energies, Scheuer said.

“We must and WANT to urgently promote the switch to climate-friendly mobility,” the transport minister said. 

The energy ministry will oversee 50 of the projects, including plans for more than 2 gigawatts (GW) of electrolysis capacity for making green hydrogen. This is 40% of the 5 GW target in Germany’s national hydrogen strategy through 2030. The transport ministry will fund the remaining 12 projects in the transportation sector. These will include the development and manufacturing of fuel cell systems and vehicles, including passenger cars, trucks, and municipal vehicles.

Hydrogen has gained a lot of momentum in recent years. It now features in nearly every strategy of Big Oil and can be seen in many government plans for industry decarbonization.  Governments, international organizations, and oil and gas super-majors say that blue hydrogen (hydrogen plus carbon capture and storage) and green hydrogen (hydrogen made of water electrolysis using electricity from solar or wind) could be the key to helping the decarbonization of emission-intensive industries in the energy transition.

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