Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee Inquiry into Post-Pandemic Economic Growth

The Hydrogen Taskforce welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy Committee’s inquiry into post-pandemic economic growth.
It is the Taskforce’s view that:

• Due to its various applications, hydrogen is critical for the UK to reach net zero by 2050;
• The UK holds world-class advantages in hydrogen production, distribution and application;
• Other economies are moving ahead in the development of this sector and the UK must respond;
• The post pandemic economic recovery planning should reflect the need to achieve deep decarbonisation and support wider objectives such as achieving net zero and levelling up the
• economy; and 
• The hydrogen sector is well-placed to play a key role in the UK’s economic recovery, with the right policies and financial structures in place.

The Taskforce has defined a set of policy recommendations for Government, which are designed to ensure that hydrogen can scale to meet the future demands of a net zero energy system:

• Development of a cross departmental UK Hydrogen Strategy within UK Government;
• Commit £1bn of capex funding over the next spending review period to hydrogen production, storage and distribution projects;
• Develop a financial support scheme for the production of hydrogen in blending, industry, power and transport;
• Amend Gas Safety Management Regulations (GSMR) to enable hydrogen blending and take the next steps towards 100 per cent hydrogen heating through supporting public trials and
• mandating 100 per cent hydrogen-ready boilers by 2025; and
• Commit to the support of 100 Hydrogen Refuelling Stations (HRS) by 2025 to support the rollout of hydrogen transport.

You can download the whole document from the Hydrogen Taskforce website here