Hydrogen is fuel of the future. For real this time, IEA says

Climate urgency sparks call for investment to help cut cost, risk of low-carbon energy

Hydrogen, which has been touted as the fuel of the future for much of five decades, may finally be on the verge of converting its potential to reality. Governments, automakers and even oil and gas giants are part of a growing coalition pushing a larger role for the fuel. This as the world seeks to reduce carbon emissions, while still providing reliable electricity to a growing population and powering complex industrial processes, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report Friday.

The report underscores the challenges — existing production techniques are polluting and costly, while the gas itself is volatile and highly flammable — as the energy industry responds to increasingly urgent calls to decarbonize amid doomsday climate change scenarios. Policies must be put in place now to support early investments needed to reduce costs and scale up the industry, the agency recommends.

The Future of Hydrogen report says: “The current level of attention has opened a genuine window of opportunity for policy and private-sector action.”

The IEA has suggested ways to push the market forward:

Supporting research and development to bring down costs and creating financial vehicles to offset the risk of early investors;

Focusing first on increasing use at industrial ports, where existing production is concentrated, and on transport fleets along popular routes;

Launching international hydrogen trade routes.

It’s not the first time hydrogen has been hailed as an energy savior. Interest surged in the 1970s for it as a potential replacement in a transport sector rocked by oil price shocks, but the crude market moderated before any meaningful advances were made. The IEA says the difference now is that the driving factor — reducing carbon emissions — is less transitory than a commodity price spike.