Green Hydrogen and Industrial Policy

Abstract

This Development Dialogue seeks to unpack whether green hydrogen is really the technology of the future and its commercial viability. As well as to understand global demand and some of the miss information in the industries for carbon neutralisation. Globally, countries are mobilising resources to deal with the climate crisis. Climate change stands to impact countries collectively, with the impacts most severely felt by the vulnerable in society. Countries, including South Africa, have to think carefully about improving their resilience to the direct physical impacts of climate change and the effects of the transition. Part of the response involves transforming notorious, high-emitting industries, such as energy and petrochemicals, towards cleaner production. Given South Africa’s high dependency on coal, and the combustion of coal being associated with high CO2 emissions, South Africa will have to transform key value chains towards more sustainable production. This transformation not only protects the country’s resources from future climate events but also secures South Africa’s future in the global marketplace. The hydrogen economy offers one potential and complementary pathway to a sustainable future. South Africa’s rich endowment of ideal weather conditions for solar and wind power generation, technological capabilities around the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process, and access to platinum resources, place the country at an advantage for developing the hydrogen value chain and being a key supplier into the global hydrogen market. While green hydrogen development has gone through a number of historical waves of interest, the current momentum is being driven globally, with a number of countries developing hydrogen roadmaps and strategies to capitalise domestically and in the global marketplace. This provides South Africa with a window of opportunity to investigate and develop a domestic hydrogen economy, attract investment into developing a new capability, and benefit from this heightened interest in the creation of a new export product. Developing this sector has many potential benefits for the country. TIPS is partnering with the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (the dtic).