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green hydrogen
Climate Group Warns World Must Not Fall for Hydrogen 'Hype'
"Rather than betting on unproven and inefficient hydrogen technologies, we need rich countries to put their money towards a just energy transition," said a Friends of the Earth campaigner.
Nov 21, 2023
Amid preparations for COP28, the United Nations climate summit kicking off next week, a leading green group warned Tuesday that "hydrogen is big polluters' latest trick, and we can't afford to fall for it."
"Hydrogen is being promoted as a 'clean' alternative to the fossil fuels used for domestic heating, transport, and heavy industry," explains the new Friend of the Earth International (FOEI) paper, Don't Fall for the Hydrogen Hype, put out ahead of the global clilmate talks. "But it's expensive to produce, inefficient, and far from a low-carbon solution. In fact, the majority of the global hydrogen supply is made from fossil fuels."
An "energy carrier," hydrogen stores and transports energy produced from resources such as biomass, fossil fuels, and water—but FOEI says industry promises of hydrogen's potential should not be trusted.
"Hydrogen, just like the fossil fuels and other false climate solutions pushed by that same industry, further reinforces neocolonial patterns of extractivism and exploitation."
The group's paper begins by debunking the hydrogen "rainbow." Citing the International Energy Agency, it states:
Globally, more than 62% of hydrogen production is derived from fossil gas (known as grey hydrogen, blue hydrogen when coupled with carbon capture and storage, or turquoise hydrogen when produced from methane pyrolysis). About 21% comes from coal and lignite (black/brown hydrogen), 16% is produced as a byproduct at refineries, 0.5% derived from oil, whilst only 0.1% is produced via water electrolysis (green from renewable electricity, purple/pink from nuclear).
While some groups support green hydrogen, critics including FOEI emphasize that along with being incredibly uncommon, it "demands huge amounts of cheap renewable electricity to function, rendering the process highly inefficient," and "requires vast amounts of water, an increasingly rare and precious resource that shouldn't be wasted."
"Pushed by the same fossil industry that has caused—and continues to fuel—the climate crisis, hydrogen is yet another false solution, sold by the industry as a magical fix which allows business as usual to continue," the paper asserts. "Like other false solutions, it represents a dangerous distraction from the urgent, deep, real emission cuts that are needed to address the climate crisis."
Climate scientists and energy experts have long said that humanity must rapidly phase out fossil fuels to avoid the most catastrophic effects of heating the planet and meet the Paris agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise this century to 1.5°C. A U.N. analysis revealed Monday that currently implemented policies put the world on track for 3°C of warming by 2100.
The FOEI paper points out that in addition to propping up polluters by "justifying more fossil gas, hydrogen conveniently allows the fossil industry to push another one of its lifelines: carbon capture and storage," an "unproven techno-fix" that global climate groups are also warning about in the lead-up to COP28 in the United Arab Emirates.
"It is unsurprising that hydrogen, just like the fossil fuels and other false climate solutions pushed by that same industry, further reinforces neocolonial patterns of extractivism and exploitation," the publication continues, highlighting how the oil and gas sector "has shown time and again its disregard for communities and the environment, especially in the Global South."
Yegeshni Moodley from Friends of the Earth South Africa/groundWork said in a statement that "in the Global South, 'green hydrogen' receives public money yet serves only private interests. As governments collude with corporations over mega-infrastructure projects, communities struggle to keep their ancestral lands and scant water resources intact."
The paper notes that like other "false solutions" to the climate emergency—including geoengineering, offsets, and so-called nature-based solutions—on top of "disproportionate social and environmental costs, hydrogen also comes with a high financial cost."
FOEI advocacy officer Lise Masson argued that "rather than betting on unproven and inefficient hydrogen technologies, we need rich countries to put their money towards a just energy transition, one that puts power in the hands of people, not corporations."
Already, some governments are pouring money into hydrogen. U.S. President Joe Biden last month announced a "historic investment" of up to $7 billion for seven hubs across the United States, the nation that has historically contributed the most to human-caused global heating.
Meanwhile, in the European Union, "the gas lobby has succeeded in securing several pieces of legislation promoting hydrogen—including legislation that allows public funds to go to fossil gas infrastructure as long as it promises to be 'hydrogen ready' despite the fact that Europe already has more gas infrastructure than necessary," FOEI detailed.
In Belgium, the European Commission, Hydrogen Europe, and the Clean Hydrogen Partnership are co-hosting European Hydrogen Week 2023—which activists with We Smell Gas disrupted with a protest involving fake green vomit on Tuesday.
"From Chile, to Namibia to South Africa, the story is the same. Communities are not being consulted on [hydrogen projects] destined for European consumption [with] the costs of false solutions violently outsourced," We Smell Gas said on social media Tuesday. "Hydrogen imports are imperial greed painted green."
"Our current energy system relies on appropriating space, resources, and cheap labor from racialized and working-class people inside and outside European borders," the group continued. "For the profit of E.U. multinational and the economic dominance of Western states. [Hydrogen] at scale reproduces this system."
The FOEI position paper stresses that "addressing the climate crisis can only come through deep systemic change, dismantling the neocolonial, patriarchal, neoliberal capitalist system that created the crisis, to build a more just and equitable world for all."
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How Green Capitalism Blocked a Just Transition and Crashed the Government in Portugal
The power of false renewable energy promises to bring down a government.
Nov 09, 2023
Many were caught by surprise in the blitz of raids, arrests, and resignations that stormed Portugal on November 7th. In a few hours, one of the longest-lasting leaderships in Europe fell under the weight of its political contradictions, its tight connections to big oil, gas, and energy companies and the subservient politicians.
Just a few weeks ago, the establishment and media in Portugal decried Fridays for Future Lisbon activists for targeting the minister of climate action with green paint in an “energy transition” event sponsored by oil, gas, and coal giants Galp and EDP. The activists accused the minister of being in collusion with big companies that are extending their fossil business while taking over investment in renewables. Less than a month after that, the minister would become one of the suspects (together with the previous minister of the environment, the current minister of infrastructures, the chief of staff and the main advisor of the Prime Minister, the head of the environmental protection agency, the mayor of the Sines municipality, a former director from Galp, heads of private companies, among others) of a corruption case involving lithium mines, hydrogen projects, and data centers. The consequences are not just legal. António Costa, Portuguese prime minister since 2015, resigned this week after he was announced as a suspect in the same investigation.
The case for official corruption will now have to be proven in the courts, the corruption of a new energy model that is actually off the hands of those who created the climate crisis seems to be untouched.
The Portuguese government had been selling itself as a “climate action” champion for years now. Yet, like all other European countries, it has no plan for actually fulfilling its commitment of the necessary cuts of emissions under the Paris Agreement, that is, it plans an increase of temperature well above 1.5ºC. That doesn’t mean that the Portuguese capitalist establishment hasn’t been reaping the profits of the European and international focus on new extractivism, energy forms and technologies—the bulk of green capitalism. The promise of European funds, in particular for energy connections, for critical materials’ extraction, and hydrogen as a way to counterbalance Chinese battery development, has been massively profitable for the companies that most contributed to the climate crisis in the country. In 2022, Galp, EDP, and REN have all had the biggest profits in their history, and 2023 promises to go the same way. REN was also one of the places visited by the police during investigative searches.
Climate activists have long decried the Portuguese energy transition policy as both unjust and no transition at all. EDP shut down its coal power plants without any plans for its workers, who simply became unemployed. Galp shut down its Matosinhos refinery and simply transferred its production to another refinery in Sines, with no impact on emissions and the destruction of over 100 jobs in the northern city. Some of these actions were actually funded by the “Fund for Just Transition” that never reached the workers who were supposed to be the object of said transition. The only groups of people benefiting from these funds were the shareholders of big companies. EDP and Galp have kept on investing in fossil energy in Portugal and abroad. They have further positioned themselves as frontrunners in renewable auctions, whether in wind, solar, hydrogen, or lithium projects around the country.
The government’s choice to reproduce the fossil model with renewable energy, with massive areas of production and massive distribution circuits and losses, has been a gift that derives from the direct contact of the companies with the decision-makers. The hydrogen strategy came out only after dozens of meetings between the government and the companies that would benefit from them. Spinoffs from the main energy companies, such as EDP Renováveis, Galp New Energy, or TrustWind are the frequent bidders of new energy auctions. The centralized, monopolized, and gigantic nature of these projects is leading to growing objection by local populations due to their negative environmental impacts, namely the need to remove tens of thousands of protected trees. The idea of decentralized small-scale production of electricity is directly opposed by the big companies as it would render them close to useless.
A huge amount of public money being overtly offered to big companies could hardly have been a better scenario for mass-scale corruption. In the wake of the austerity years, when large patches of the country were offered for oil and gas exploration, other areas were offered for mining concessions, and the lithium projects in protected areas have been scandalous since the beginning (Galp, the oil and gas company, was also involved in the lithium projects). On the other hand, the “green hydrogen” frenzy, largely pushed by German interests to replace Russian gas reduced since the invasion of the Ukraine, has proven to be little more than a cover for gas expansion, through European and other public funding.
The leadership of the Socialist Party in Portugal (a regular liberal party, despite the name) has long been on the corrupting renewables’ bandwagon. For years now, they have made an uncontroversial alliance of interests with the big oil, gas, and coal companies, even if they're also investing in other areas. This alliance began well before any talks of renewables and also expanded to other political parties in the country, with permanent revolving doors between industry and governments since the 1980’s. Although the case for official corruption will now have to be proven in the courts, the corruption of a new energy model that is actually off the hands of those who created the climate crisis seems to be untouched.
With the exit of the Socialist Party, it is now quite conceivable that the right and the far-right will campaign on dismantling renewables. They will certainly not promote a democratic and decentralized energy model, but either insist on this corrupt model or push for a return to full fossil energy, as the climate crisis is turned into a cultural issue that will reap discontentment votes. The green capitalist model of energy is nothing but a fraud on just transition, and only a public and democratic energy system can deliver both the emission cuts and the just transitions we all need.
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Critics Warn Biden $7 Billion for Hydrogen Helps 'Industry Ploy to Rebrand Fracked Gas'
"The Biden administration has clearly fallen for this scam hook, line, and sinker," said one campaigner. "This multibillion-dollar bet on greenwashed dirty energy will undermine efforts to address the climate crisis."
Oct 13, 2023
As U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Friday celebrated the "historic investment" of up to $7 billion for seven regional hydrogen hubs as a key to achieving President Joe Biden's "goal of American industry powered by American clean energy," some climate campaigners warned that the administration is falling for—or participating in—a fossil fuel industry scam.
Roughly two-thirds of the H2Hubs investment will go toward green hydrogen, which is made using renewable energy, according to the White House. However, the bipartisan infrastructure legislation Biden signed in 2021 requires broader support, including for pink (nuclear) and blue (gas) hydrogen projects, the latter of which includes carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
"At face value—and according to the Biden playbook—the hydrogen hub grants aim to help transition the United States to clean energy. In reality, they amount to another corporate scam, one that preserves and extends the life of the extractive economy and prevents the frontline communities most impacted by climate disaster from having input," said Marion Gee, co-executive director at the Climate Justice Alliance, representing 89 rural and urban environmental justice groups.
"Hydrogen development is energy intensive to produce, could present a public safety risk in transit, can produce health-damaging air pollution when combusted, and is a play by the fossil fuel industry to extend its viability and profits," Gee stressed. "We must work to move capital and power into the hands of local communities who will center traditional ecological and cultural knowledge and create a pathway toward a regenerative future."
"The fossil fuel industry is working to continue our nation's reliance on fossil fuels by any means necessary—and hydrogen offers yet another possible inroad for Big Oil and Gas."
Earthworks policy director Lauren Pagel also asserted that "prioritizing hydrogen hubs across the United States is more about extending the life of oil and gas companies than addressing the climate crisis. These hubs are a dangerous distraction from the obvious consensus solution that the world must stop expanding fossil fuels that are warming the atmosphere."
Food & Water Watch policy director Jim Walsh was similarly critical, declaring that "the massive build-out of hydrogen infrastructure is little more than an industry ploy to rebrand fracked gas. The Biden administration has clearly fallen for this scam hook, line, and sinker. This multibillion-dollar bet on greenwashed dirty energy will undermine efforts to address the climate crisis, while increasing pollution of our air and water, and milking taxpayers for billions in new fossil fuel subsidies."
"Even the cleanest forms of hydrogen present serious problems—most notably the massive amount of water that would be waste," Walsh added. "As groundwater sources are drying up across the country, there is no reason to waste precious drinking water resources on hydrogen when there are cheaper, cleaner energy sources that can facilitate a real transition off fossil fuels."
The seven selected projects are the Appalachian (West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania), California, Gulf Coast (Texas), Heartland (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota), Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey), Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan), and Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, and Montana) hydrogen hubs.
As The New York Timesdetailed:
Not all of the $7 billion in funding will be spent at once. As a first step, the Energy Department will give awardees initial grants to create more detailed proposals for their hydrogen hubs. If the agency deems the projects viable, it will disburse more money over time—but that money is not guaranteed if any of the hubs prove unworkable.
"We're still a long, long ways away from creating a large-scale hydrogen economy," said Alex Kizer, a senior vice president at the Energy Futures Initiative, a Washington nonprofit organization. "Think of these hubs as laboratories of sorts to experiment with potential business models for hydrogen and to try to figure out some of the technological and infrastructure hurdles."
Even groups that support green hydrogen raised concerns over funding longtime polluters. Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous warned that "the fossil fuel industry is working to continue our nation's reliance on fossil fuels by any means necessary—and hydrogen offers yet another possible inroad for Big Oil and Gas to lock in polluting and noneconomic uses of gas for decades to come."
"Decision-makers in the administration and at the local level must be wary of these attempts and ensure as much hydrogen-specific funding as possible goes to green hydrogen and its most efficient end uses to ensure this investment actually addresses climate change," he said.
Jill Tauber, vice president of litigation for climate and energy at Earthjustice, suggested that "hydrogen can be a clean energy solution, or it can drive us deeper into the climate crisis and hurt communities," and that green projects powered by renewables "can play an important role cleaning up what we cannot electrify, like steel manufacturing."
Julie McNamara, deputy policy director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, joined the chorus of alarmed critics on Friday, saying that "billions of taxpayer dollars are at risk of perpetuating fossil fuel industry injustices and harms while subsidizing fossil fuel greenwashing."
"Today's announcement also sets in stark relief the significance of upcoming administration decisions around implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act's hydrogen production tax credit, which could be a bulwark against heavily polluting hydrogen—or a backdoor subsidizing it," she noted. "The Department of Energy and the Biden administration now must set rigorous implementation, evaluation, and engagement criteria to ensure the development of a hydrogen industry that is unequivocally aligned with our climate objectives and that serves our collective goal to secure a safe, clean, just, and healthy future for all."
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