China’s strategy to produce hydrogen from coal does not support long-term decarbonisation goal, experts say

Name: China-built clean coal-fired power plant in Dubai completed
Uploaded: 2022-11-21T04:21:00.000Z
Duration: 55 s
Description: China-built clean coal-fired power plant in Dubai completed

Two-thirds of the 33 million tonnes of hydrogen produced in China in 2020 was produced from coal, emitting 360 million tonnes of carbon dioxide

A shift to low-emission production of hydrogen is crucial to China achieving its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2060, report says

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Equipping existing hydrogen production facilities in China with carbon storage technology is a key strategy to reduce emissions and enlarge the country’s low-emission hydrogen supply. Photo: Shutterstock

Yujie Xuein Shenzhen

Published: 12:21pm, 21 Nov 2022Updated: 9:44pm, 21 Nov 2022

China’s approach to produce hydrogen from coal and deploying carbon capture technology will help to enlarge supplies of the clean fuel and reduce emissions, but it is detrimental to the country’s long-term goal of transitioning to net-zero, climate experts say.

As China aims to raise the share of hydrogen in its energy mix to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, a shift to low-emission production of hydrogen is crucial, according to a report jointly published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Administrative Centre for China’s Agenda 21 last week.

“Equipping existing hydrogen production facilities with CCUS [carbon capture, utilisation and storage] is a key strategy to reduce emissions and enlarge the country’s low-emission hydrogen supply,” the report noted, referring to the suite of technologies which can capture and make effective use of the high concentrations of carbon dioxide emitted by industrial activities.

Hydrogen production in China reached around 33 million tonnes in 2020, or 30 per cent of the world total, but about two-thirds of it was fuelled by coal, generating around 360 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the IEA.

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China-built clean coal-fired power plant in Dubai completed

Since many of the existing coal-based hydrogen plants in China were built recently, they could be in operation for decades to come. Deploying CCUS in existing fossil fuel-based hydrogen plants, especially in regions with abundant coal, access to carbon storage and limited renewable energy availability can help produce hydrogen with low emissions and at low cost, the report said.

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