Tuesday, October 27, 2020 | 45 minutes | 09:00 GMT Commitments under the Paris Agreement emphasize the imperative for a zero-carbon energy. This requires making strategic decisions on energy infrastructure and the use of available energy resources. Hydrogen has emerged as an important part of the clean energy mix needed to ensure a sustainable future. Falling costs for hydrogen produced with renewable energy, coupled with the urgency of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, has given hydrogen unprecedented political and business momentum. Hydrogen has the potential to revolutionize the current energy system towards a cleaner, secure and sustainable pathway given its versatile characteristics from production through to utilisation. Hydrogen is a clean fuel (an energy carrier) and is emission-free upon utilization with water being the only by-product. A hydrogen society involves hydrogen becoming a replacement fuel for its fossil fuel counterparts (e.g. can replace oil and gasoline for mobility, coal and natural gas for power generation) and could present a viable solution towards achieving a low-carbon society. Additionally, hydrogen can act as an energy storage medium to stabilize the intermittency of renewable energy, through power-to-hydrogen systems. Realising a hydrogen society aligns with SDG-9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) by creating a new sector in the energy system as processes along the hydrogen supply chain necessitates new infrastructure and industry involvement.

• What is the current state of hydrogen market, and what are the major challenges and opportunities of using Hydrogen as a clean vector for industrial decarbonisation?
• Important synergies exist between hydrogen and renewable energy. How does “Sector Coupling” affect the growth of Renewable Power
• While existing activities demonstrate the momentum of hydrogen today, a significant step-up is required to achieve mass-market deployment and realise the roadmap. What are the Regulatory barriers currently limiting the development of a significant hydrogen industry?
• Digital technologies are transforming all sectors and industries. They are changing how societies work and live, and how goods and services are created, transmitted, and consumed. How does Hydrogen fit into the new industrial revolution?
• The decline in economic activity precipitated by the spread of COVID-19 and ensuing lockdowns has affected the electricity supply dynamics in many countries. How can Hydrogen help improve grid reliability and resilience towards power shortages and outages?