The Hydrogen Taskforce launches at Parliament

On 3 March 2020, ten leading organisations at the heart of the current and future UK energy system launched the Hydrogen Taskforce in Parliament.

The Taskforce offers a shared vision of the role of hydrogen in the transition to Net Zero and has agreed a collective position on the next steps that must be taken to ensure that the UK capitalises on this opportunity to decarbonise cost-effectively at home and to play a leading role in the growing global market for hydrogen solutions.

The Taskforce’s objective is to align a wide range of stakeholders including Government, industry and an informed public with the aim of driving investment in hydrogen as an essential, exciting and transformative decarbonisation solution with applications across the economy.

The Hydrogen Taskforce membership, Arup, Baxi, BOC, BNP Paribas and its vehicle leasing company Arval, BP, Cadent, DBD, ITM Power, Shell and Storengy, today confirmed their ambition to accelerate activity in the UK and scale deployment of hydrogen solutions.

The Taskforce marks its launch with the publication of a report on ‘The Role of Hydrogen in Delivering Net Zero’. The report outlines a series of recommendations to be taken by industry and Government over the next five years, which would scale hydrogen applications and unlock the benefits of hydrogen.

The action plan includes the following steps:

1. Development of a cross-departmental Hydrogen Strategy within UK Government.
2. Commitment by Government of £1bn over the next Spending Review Period to hydrogen production, storage and distribution projects.
3. Development of financial support for the production of hydrogen for blending into the gas grid, industrial use, power generation and transport.
4. Amendment of Gas Safety Management Regulations (GSMR) to enable hydrogen blending into the UK Gas Grid and take the next steps towards 100% hydrogen heating through supporting public trials and mandating hydrogen-ready boilers by 2025.
5. Collaboration to establish 100 hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) by 2025 to support the roll-out of hydrogen transport.

The Right Honourable Kwasi Kwarteng MP kicked off the event with a short address in which he discussed the importance of hydrogen in reducing carbon emissions, both in the UK and globally.

Jacob Young, MP for Redcar, then discussed the importance of hydrogen’s role in levelling up the regions and helping the Government to deliver on its ambitions to meet Net Zero by 2050. He said:

“The political, social and economic arguments for large scale hydrogen conversion have never been so strong.

“It is clear that we cannot meet our Net Zero 2050 target without Hydrogen technology. From heating our homes, to our journeys to work, Hydrogen can play a huge part in our decarbonisation in this decade.

“By taking the next steps and accelerating Hydrogen development programs we can create thousands of new, skilled, green jobs and continue to lead the world in the hydrogen economy.”

Mark Neller, Director at Arup, said he was delighted that the Government had demonstrated its interest in the Hydrogen Taskforce and understood the importance of the project.

“We look forward to working closely with BEIS, HMT, DfT and MHCLG to realise the wide-reaching benefits and applications of hydrogen – early and deep decarbonisation, high quality jobs and value add to the UK economy.”