UK govt starts consultation on hydrogen certification scheme

The UK government on Thursday launched a consultation on the development of a low-carbon hydrogen certification scheme, which is seen as a key to fostering a low-carbon hydrogen economy.

“Thanks to this new scheme, investors and producers will be able to confidently identify and invest in trusted, high-quality British sources of low carbon hydrogen, both home and abroad,” said Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Minister Graham Stuart.

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The certification scheme is proposed to be based on the Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard, which was published in April 2022 and sets an emissions threshold and methodology for calculating production emissions of hydrogen in eligible pathways.

The government intends to introduce the certification scheme by 2025, in line with the plans set out in the British energy security strategy, which was released in April last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the spike in energy prices. The strategy includes a target for up to 10 GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, with at least half of it from electrolysis.

The government also extended the appointment of the UK’s Hydrogen Champion, Jane Toogood, by six months. Toogood, who is chief executive of Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey, has a non-statutory role to bring industry and government together to accelerate the UK hydrogen economy.