Motivation:
To mitigate global warming, the global economy needs to discontinue the burning of fossil fuels, the main source of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Nations worldwide have agreed in international treaties such as the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC, 2015) to act and are implementing measures to transition to renewable energies. One key challenge of renewable energies is energy storage due to the intermittent availability of solar and wind power on timescales of minutes to seasons as well as their storage for mobile applications. In recent years, hydrogen is gaining attention as an energy carrier that could help solve these challenges in a decarbonized economy. Accordingly, projections of hydrogen usage consider increase in hydrogen demand from 95 Mt hydrogen in 2022 to 430 Mt in 2050 (IEA, 2023). However, hydrogen itself is an indirect greenhouse gas due to its effects on atmospheric chemistry. Therefore, (involuntary) emissions of hydrogen across the value chain could reduce the climate benefit of a hydrogen-based economy. In order to assess and maximize the climate benefit of replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen, climate impact of a hydrogen-based economy needs to be understood.
Project:
In this project, we assess the current knowledge, available particularly in the scientific literature, on the climate impact of a hydrogen-based economy. To this end, we will assess the knowledge on the global warming potential of atmospheric hydrogen, its natural sources and sinks, hydrogen emissions across the entire value chain, and how they may affect the climate benefit of a future hydrogen economy in context with climate goals set forth in international agreements. The results shall serve to identify hydrogen emission processes and their relevance for the climate, as well as knowledge gaps that require further research. Thus, the study is a step towards a better understanding of hydrogen emissions and, ideally, their mitigation.
Our contribution to this project is our expertise in global atmospheric chemistry simulations that we use
- to assess the Global Warming Potential of Hydrogen and
- to give a comprehensive overview over the current state of knowledge about natural sources of Hydrogen.