The Development of Low Carbon Hydrogen: IHEC’s View (UNIDO)

As the climate challenge becomes severe, the importance of using renewable energy replacing fossil energy to realize low carbon energy transition has become increasingly prominent. Low carbon hydrogen is an imperative for the energy transition, driving the growth of renewable and nuclear energy, and demonstrating the emerging opportunities for the phase-out of fossil fuels due to its high energy density, environmentally friendly, and sustainability. On the one hand, low carbon hydrogen is the only large-scale, long-term, and low-cost energy storage carrier currently known, which can perform deep peak regulation on the grid and alleviate the intermittency of renewable energy such as solar and wind power. On the other hand, low carbon hydrogen can provide a carbon reduction transformation pathway for hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, chemicals, and long-distance transportation. Low carbon hydrogen will inevitably play an important role in clean energy transition in line with SDG 7, 9 and 13.

The International Hydrogen Energy Centre(IHEC) was launched in July 2021 with the support of the Chinese government and UNIDO. Key partners are the Ministry of Commerce, represented by the China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE) and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology (BEIT), the Beijing Tsinghua Industrial Development Research Institute (TIDRI), and the Beijing Yitong Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Research Institute. The IHEC is located in Beijing, China.

Panelists:

Xiaolong Fu, Deputy Director, International Hydrogen Energy Centre
Heng Liu, Senior Technical Advisor, UNIDO
Xiaoping Li, Project Specialist/Advisor, UNIDO