A global standard for green hydrogen projects developed by not-for-profit foundation the Green Hydrogen Organisation (GH2) will be launched on 17 May.

The standard intends to provide investors and consumers with certainty that hydrogen labelled as green is sufficiently low carbon.

“There is no global consensus on what is green hydrogen,” GH2’s green hydrogen standard director Sam Bartlett told Wood Mackenzie’s hydrogen conference. “That is a barrier to expanding the industry. Producers, customers and consumers need to have a common language.”

The standard will certify whole projects rather than processes, enabling those projects to obtain and trade guarantee-of-origin (GOO) certificates.

“Producers, customers and consumers need to have a common language” Bartlett, GH2

Europe already has a liquid market for GOO certificates from renewable power. GH2 hopes to extend this system to provide certification for hydrogen.

The standard will focus on projects that are ‘near 100pc’ powered by wind, solar, hydro and geothermal—allowing for the fact that even projects that have dedicated renewable assets are likely to have grid backup.

“We are not covering nuclear, waste-to-energy and biomass,” says Bartlett. “Those projects have a very different set of ESG and development issues that led to be managed.”

GH2 says 95pc of the 50 largest green hydrogen projects that have been announced are powered by either wind, solar or hydropower.

Low cap

The standard will cap emissions associated with hydrogen production at less than 1kg CO₂/kg of hydrogen produced—significantly lower than thresholds proposed by other organisations, some of which allow for hydrogen production pathways with up to 11kg CO₂/kg of hydrogen produced.

“We believe that is a realistic and robust [level],” said Bartlett.

Certification requires six steps: compliance, independent assurance, consultation, accreditation, certification and annual renewal.

The use and management of water resources will be addressed in the standard, together with adherence to best practice health and safety standards in green hydrogen production, storage and transportation.

“Green hydrogen is a new sector so it has less skeletons in its closet” Kilajian, International Hydropower Association

The standard also safeguards that ESG consequences are tracked, including the impact on local communities and human rights.

These issues have been important for the hydropower industry in developing similar projects standards, according to Alain Kilajian, sustainability specialist at the International Hydropower Association.

“In developing any standard, you have to understand the negative impacts—indigenous peoples’ rights and biodiversity are the big ones,” he says. “Green hydrogen is a new sector so it has less skeletons in its closet—but you have to admit when you have gone wrong.”

GH2’s board members include carmaker Hyundai, metals company Korea Zinc, steelmaker Thyssenkrupp and Chilean hydrogen association H2 Chile.

GH2 was founded by Australian renewable energy company Fortescue Future Industries and is chaired by former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

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Author: Tom Young