💦⚡️💚 Green hydrogen is ‘booming’. As the missing link in the energy transition and in the transition to sustainable industry. But how do we make hydrogen ‘big’ and make sure that everyone benefits? Read the last part of my voyage of discovery here👇 💚🌍
Blog 10 Hydrogen as a game changer
Nothing new there for us, as that has been the Groningen modus for
many years. It has resulted in much greater support for solar parks. Villages
and neighbourhood communities take the initiative to have solar parks
developed, and to purchase their own wind turbines. And so Groningen has a
great deal of sustainable energy We produce our own hydrogen, which is then
used to render heavy mobility more sustainable, for example. At the national,
European and global level too, more and more plans are being made for the
production and use of hydrogen. Not only within the national borders but also
in collaboration with other countries. The Netherlands already has a number of
contracts with other countries for the import of hydrogen, including Portugal
and Namibia, and the European plans to import green hydrogen from Africa are
also taking shape.
The main event in terms of the energy transition was of course the
COP26 in Glasgow. No rock solid agreements on targets this time, unlike the
COP25 in Paris in 2015, though effective agreements were reached on how member
states will finance energy: reducing the financing of fossil energy and
investing more money in developing countries. There was also confirmation of
earlier agreements on how to render the transition a fair process. The latter
is absolutely essential if the transition is to be a success. It is a positive
sign that there is greater attention for developing countries, though we know
from the past that this will at the same time be very tricky. Since the COP25,
many countries have lagged behind when it comes to financing adjustments to or
preventing climate change in developing countries.
The time has come to make that change. And it is viable. The
financing should not be a separate issue, but rather a component of a fair
energy transition. This does however require audacity from the prosperous
countries. The audacity to stop transferring the actual costs of production and
consumption of energy to others. That has been the unfortunate situation for many
years after all: extracting oil at locations which do not harm us and where we
do not see the local consequences. Profiting from the oil, while being fully
aware that the situation cannot continue, but change is such a difficult
process...
Setting conditions to share profits
It is indeed very difficult to change the rules of a game which is
already underway. That is why it is imperative that the new set of rules now be
formulated, on the eve of the global hydrogen economy. To reach agreements on
how we can all profit from the energy transition. Hydrogen may well be the game
changer. The green hydrogen produced can be transported over great distances.
Just like oil and gas. However, hydrogen can bring about the change which was
lacking in the case of oil and gas: to contribute to redistribution of wealth
and poverty. We can do so by reaching agreements that the hydrogen to be
imported by our prosperous countries, some of it from developing countries,
must comply with a number of conditions. I’m not referring to the
technical conditions - so many people are already involved in that - but rather
the socio-economic conditions. The sharing of profits with residents around the
solar parks and wind parks where the hydrogen is produced. So that part of the
earnings during the working life of a solar park or wind park, and the money
earned trading the produced hydrogen, is structurally reinvested in the local
economy. Everyone benefits: the users and producers of hydrogen, and those
living in the region. Just like in Groningen, if we can jointly profit from the
energy transition earnings, this will boost support and accelerate the energy
transition process. We must learn from the past in order to ensure that green
hydrogen brings about prosperity for all.
· The condition
must be set that the hydrogen economy contributes to SDG1, SDG7 and SDG15
(Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations) and that this must be the
basis for import, trade, financing and production of hydrogen.
· The import of
green hydrogen must be under the condition that local residents around the
solar parks, wind parks and electrolysers with which the green hydrogen is
produced, must share in the prosperity and a percentage of earnings for the
duration of production.
Broad-based
prosperity
In concrete terms, this means that local residents around energy projects for hydrogen production are given access to clean energy and therefore clean cooking, thus combating poverty and providing opportunity for (re)forestation. And so the hydrogen economy can truly contribute to broad-based prosperity. I shall be making every possible effort.
Are you
in?