Green hydrogen

Green hydrogen (GH2 or GH2) is hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity. Production of green hydrogen causes significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than production of grey hydrogen, which is derived from fossil fuels without carbon capture. Green hydrogen's principal purpose is to help limit global warming, reduce fossil fuel dependence by replacing grey hydrogen, and provide for an expanded set of end-uses in specific economic sectors, sub-sectors and activities. These end-uses may be technically difficult to decarbonize through other means such as electrification with renewable power. Its main applications are likely to be in heavy industry (e.g. high temperature processes alongside electricity, feedstock for production of green ammonia and organic chemicals, as direct reduction steelmaking), shipping, and long-term energy storage. As of 2024, low-emission hydrogen, including both blue and green hydrogen, accounted for less than 1% of global hydrogen production, with green hydrogen only making up around 12% of all low-emission hydrogen production. Green hydrogen is more costly to produce compared to all other methods of hydrogen production, however, with new technological developments as well as the increasing cost of natural gas, the cost gap is expected to narrow by 2030.