Abstract:

China’s pilot city program allows the use of hydrogen whose carbon footprint is measured at the hydrogen production stage, rather than across its life cycle. Partly for this reason, the study finds that only hydrogen made from coal gasification is ineligible to be used under the pilot program. Hydrogen made from grid-average electricity even qualifies for the additional clean hydrogen subsidy in the program because it has zero-emissions at production, despite having one of the highest life cycle emissions among the eleven hydrogen pathways analysed.  The study recommends that the national and local governments in China consider the use of life-cycle well-to-wheel GHG emissions to evaluate hydrogen in their programs and policies. It also recommends that local governments of selected cities discourage the production and use of coal-based and grid-average electrolysis hydrogen. And it calls for a robust carbon accounting, certification, and verification system for consistent and accurate emissions estimates.