Away from the media spotlight, this “clean gas” was an important pillar within the Dubai negotiations: «Its appearance in the final text is extremely relevant. And Italian companies are ready to invest in this direction”, says Andrea Catino of VIBEA

The ecological transition is like a cooking recipe: there are many ingredients to be dosed in the correct way, some are quantitatively more important than others but all, without exception, are fundamental to achieving the perfect level of sweetness or flavour. The complete list was already known, but was recently reiterated by a UN document of the caliber of the Global stocktake (Gst), i.e. the assessment of the progress made so far and the efforts to be made in the future to combat the climate crisis.

According to point “e” of article 28 of the document, published at the end of COP28 in Dubai, the “transitioning away” from fossil fuels (gas, oil, coal) must be based on the following “ingredients”: renewable energies (to be tripled by 2030), energy efficiency (to be doubled by 2030), nuclear, CO2 capture and storage systems and – last but not least – «low carbon» hydrogen . The latter is and will remain an important step towards decarbonising the energy and transport sectors (even at a local level, as the Milanese councilor for Mobility Arianna Censi explained in this interview ).

Its final position in the list published on Global Stocktake does not demonstrate a lesser relevance compared to other technologies. According to mechanical engineer Andrea Catino, business development director of the energy consultancy VIBEA , «the appearance of low-emission hydrogen in a document of such importance represents an extremely relevant fact. Hydrogen is a gas which, if produced from renewable sources or with CO2 capture systems, will be able to contribute decisively to the reduction of the use of fossil fuels, especially in industrial contexts which are difficult to decarbonise ( hard to abate ), such as refineries, steelworks, cement works or glassworks”.

Furthermore, adds the expert, “the property of this gas to act as an energy carrier suggests its imminent contribution in the process of decarbonisation of mobility, even maritime transport and aviation”. But what is meant by low-emission hydrogen? The definition does not necessarily refer to one or more colors used – sometimes improperly – to distinguish the various types of hydrogen: « Low carbon hydrogen means hydrogen produced through processes that emit a significantly lower quantity of carbon dioxide than to traditional methods”, explains Catino, who personally participated in COP28 in Dubai.

The types of hydrogen vary based on the production and quantity of associated climate-changing gas emissions: «The blue one is produced with steam methane reforming or the contribution of fossil fuels, with simultaneous capture of CO2, unlike gray hydrogen . What we conventionally call green hydrogen, however, derives from the electrolysis of water using electricity from renewable energy sources. This latter production process does not emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. During Cop28 the new ISO/TS 19870 standard was presented as the basis for harmonisation, safety, interoperability and sustainability along the entire hydrogen value chain”, underlines the engineer.

Net of the (controversial) inclusion of nuclear power and CO2 capture-storage in the “toolbox” to mitigate the climate emergency, «the formalization of new standards – more rigorous and aimed at a significant increase in emission requirements – has gathered enthusiasm and support in the sector. Thanks to the positive reaction of various companies, which have shown themselves ready to invest in this direction (think only of the partnership signed by Masdar and Iberdrola), but also to the Mutual recognition of certification schemes for renewable and low-carbon hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives “, says Catino .

The latter is a declaration of intent, signed by thirty-six countries, which aims to standardize the certification schemes for renewable and low-emission hydrogen, in the hope of creating a market that is truly global. Among the signatory states, the expert claims, the most proactive during the Dubai summit were «the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia, but also Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan , France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy”.

Regardless of the government’s push, according to Andrea Catino «at COP28 several Italian companies demonstrated their willingness to take on an important role in this process, such as Saipem Spa, Turboden Spa, Eni Spa, NextChem MAIRE Group». Without forgetting the outcome of the Green Hydrogen Summit Oman 2023, which was held a few days after the United Nations climate conference: «Here Italy has had great success among the numerous projects underway in the Sultanate related to hydrogen green. I would like to mention some companies that have participated profitably, in various capacities: Energy Dome Spa, Walter Tosto Spa, Magaldi Green Energy Spa, Techint Spa, Tenaris Spa, H2 Energy Srl, Vibea Srl, PWC Italy Spa, TUV Italia Srl”.

In our country, therefore, a certain industrial and entrepreneurial ferment is spreading regarding low-emission hydrogen, and we had confirmation of this at Cop28. However, this element rarely appears at the top of the pages of Italian websites and newspapers, even during international events such as the one in Dubai: «It is a fact that the Italian media have given little importance to hydrogen. Coverage was decidedly poor. Like I said, though, it was a focal point. Among other things, the insufficient media visibility seemed to me to be a less than strategic move, especially in light of the commitment demonstrated by our country in this direction”, says Catino.

Here the expert also refers to the allocation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) for the use of hydrogen in transport and industry: we are talking about approximately 3.6 billion euros. «In recent times, Italy has been trying to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels by increasing the share of renewable energy, a move that includes interest in biofuels, biomethane and, of course, hydrogen. The general idea is to combine hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide to produce synthetic methane or biomethane. It is an innovative fuel that offsets carbon dioxide emissions.”

In short, the future challenges are many and multifaceted. Some are concrete and applicable on a large scale, others more immature. One of these is white hydrogen, also called “natural”: «White hydrogen is not a standardized term in the sector, but it is used to refer to the gas that forms naturally underground following a chemical reaction that it is believed to be caused by the contract between water and some minerals. During Cop28 the focus did not emerge for a simple reason: it is a very rare type of hydrogen. So far, some deposits have been discovered, but we are still far from the turning point.”

Being naturally available, concludes Andrea Catino, «this type of hydrogen would solve downstream problems relating to production through high energy consumption processes. However, we still have a long way to go to deal with any extraction dynamics – especially due to its high flammability – and the related costs. The search is still long. However, I am sure of it: the so-called white hydrogen could represent not only a new challenge for the energy transition but, indeed, the next possible solution.”