Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of setting a green hydrogen generation target of 1GW by 2030; and if he will make a statement.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan confirmed our aim, working with industry, for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for use across the economy. The UK has expertise and assets to support both electrolytic and CCUS-enabled hydrogen production and we expect the levels of low carbon hydrogen production from different technologies that make up our 5GW ambition to depend on market developments in the 2020s.

Our ongoing work with stakeholders suggests there is a strong pipeline of electrolytic hydrogen projects ready to deploy in the 2020s, building on our existing investment in research and innovation to ensure we can achieve the scale up in low carbon hydrogen production necessary to meet our future energy needs.

The forthcoming UK Hydrogen Strategy will set out further detail on the role of different hydrogen production technologies in meeting our 5GW ambition. This ambition will be supported by a range of measures, including a £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, and our preferred long term, sustainable business model, which we will finalise in 2022. We will be consulting shortly on these measures, alongside publication of the UK Hydrogen Strategy.