Foretestcue Metals chairman Andrew Forrest.Credit:Andrey Rudkov/Bloomberg
Mr Forrest praised countries that are “firmly committed” to green hydrogen including Chile,France,New Zealand,Portugal and Spain,but said “most countries,including my own,are dithering – unsure whether to back green hydrogen or blindly commit to yet more fossil fuels,this time disguised as blue hydrogen”.
Hydrogen is typically extracted from water molecules,which can be done using fossil fuel energy (blue hydrogen) or renewable energy (green hydrogen). If the cost of production falls far enough,the gas – which burns cleanly – could potentially replace polluting fuels in heavy industry and transport.
However,the production of blue hydrogen creates greenhouse emissions,so for it to be low emissions requires carbon capture and storage to stop the pollution from entering the atmosphere and that technology is not yet cost-effective for widespread deployment.
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The federal government announced last week thatcarbon capture and storage technology would be rewarded under the $4.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund that awards credits to entities that cut their pollution by employing one of the approved techniques. One of those techniques is hydrogen generated by coal and gas.
It committed $250 million in funding for research and development of large-scale carbon capture and storage last month.
Industry,Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor said carbon capture would “support the production of clean hydrogen from existing energy resources like coal and gas”. Reducing their greenhouse contribution would help Australian exporters tap markets in north Asia that are “relying on gas to reduce their emissions”.