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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to commit to include investments in the production of blue and green hydrogen as part of their forthcoming economy-wide hydrogen strategy.

The Government is committed to developing hydrogen as a decarbonised energy carrier, as confirmed in the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 18^th November.

The Ten Point Plan package aims to bring forward a combination of commercial-scale CCUS-enabled ‘blue’ hydrogen and smaller scale electrolytic ‘green’ hydrogen projects. Both these production methods – and other innovative techniques – will be needed to deliver UK hydrogen demand expected by 2050.

This twin-track approach will enable production to be brought forward at the necessary scale during the 2020s, to grow the supply chain and build confidence in the sector, whilst scaling up green hydrogen which is likely to dominate the global market in the long term.

The Plan set out that the Government, working with industry, is aiming for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity in the UK by 2030.

We will support our hydrogen ambition through a range of measures, including a £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund out to 2024/25 and bringing forward, next year, detail on hydrogen business models and the revenue mechanism to stimulate private investment in new low carbon hydrogen production facilities. We expect these measures to reflect our twin track approach to production. More detail on how we intend to work with industry towards the 5GW 2030 ambition will be set out in the hydrogen strategy in early 2021.