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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the H21 North of England report by H21 et al. published in November 2018, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the proposals in that report to convert the gas networks across the North of England to hydrogen.

I welcome the contribution this study makes to the evidence base on the potential approaches to decarbonising how we heat our homes, businesses and industry. There is no clear consensus on how best to decarbonise heat at scale. Using the gas grid to transport hydrogen is one of several potential approaches, which include heat networks, heat pumps and biogas. The government's review of the evidence base on approaches to decarbonising heat is set out in our report ‘Clean Growth: Transforming Heating’.