Promoting carbon-neutral hydrogen through UNFCCC and national-level policies

Hydrogen can play an important role in a widespread transition to societies that emit low levels of greenhouse gases. However, "green" hydrogen-from renewable energy-and "blue" hydrogen-from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage-still face significant cost gaps compared to "brown" hydrogen. We propose a dedicated institution that allows the Group of Twenty (G20) to coordinate national policy responses to support green and blue hydrogen applications, including support for "lighthouse" activities through, for example, bilateral collaboration under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement. This would accelerate the ramp-up of the global hydrogen market. The G20 countries should assess and introduce policy instruments that support quick transformation to green hydrogen economies. Moreover, we propose a G20 program to develop baseline and monitoring methodologies for generating emission credits under the market mechanisms of the Paris Agreement.