Platinum Perspectives

(October 28, 2020 - World Platinum Investment Council)

Green hydrogen has been thrust into centre-stage in 2020, as more than 70 countries, plus the EU, pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Importantly, China which previously focussed on environmental policy measures to improve air quality, has now pledged to be carbon neutral by 2060. Hydrogen is highly versatile with applications as a feedstock, a fuel, an energy carrier and for storage of renewable energy. Green hydrogen, produced by the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity as the power source, is key to decarbonisation across many industries, and is attracting significant policy interest.

The EU is targeting 40 GW of green hydrogen electrolyser capacity over the next decade, as part of a wider €1.8 tn COVID recovery and green energy budget to expand renewable generation capacity to 32% of total by 2030. China has designated hydrogen as a key energy source for future energy security. However, China’s current target* of c.15% renewable hydrogen generation (c.30 GW) by 2030 appears relatively modest, particularly in the light of aggressive targets to grow renewable generation capacity by more than 300 GW over the next 5 years. Platinum’s role in the Hydrogen economy is crucial. It is used in fuel cells and in the electrolysis of water using renewable energy to produce green hydrogen, where it is used in conjunction with iridium as a catalyst during electrolysis. The current EU and China green hydrogen generation capacity targets alone would require, cumulatively, over 600 koz** of platinum by 2030.

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