Protecting the Climate Integrity of Hydrogen Systems: From Science to Action

Governments and companies are rapidly advancing plans to replace fossil fuel technologies with hydrogen alternatives on the premise that hydrogen can nearly eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from numerous systems. However, hydrogen itself can cause warming when it escapes into the atmosphere and reacts with the hydroxyl radical – increasing concentrations of potent, short-lived greenhouse gases including methane. While hydrogen’s warming effects and its large leakage potential have been known and discussed in the scientific literature for decades, there was almost no awareness of these issues among stakeholders when enthusiasm for hydrogen reemerged a few years ago.

With the impending risks of locking in policies and infrastructure worldwide that could severely diminish hydrogen’s climate benefits for decades, a group of scientists, communication specialists, and policy experts embarked on an effort to (1) advance scientific understanding of hydrogen’s warming effects; (2) make the science accessible and actionable for a variety of stakeholders across the world; and (3) propose tangible and effective strategies to minimize hydrogen emissions as plans are developed and systems are scaled up. The result was the publication of an award-winning scientific paper; actions taken by both U.S. and European government agencies to address hydrogen emissions; and the initiation of a hydrogen emissions measurement campaign with several academic and industry partners.

Our presentation will use this experience to provide insights into developing an effective science to action pipeline in a field where plans are rapidly evolving across the globe. We will share success stories and lessons learned; tips for pursuing policy-relevant science research; the importance of ensuring and demonstrating the credibility of data; strategies for reaching and socializing the science with stakeholders; challenges of and solutions to navigating mismatched science research and policy decision timelines; and more. Our goal of this presentation is to inspire more of these science-communication-policy partnerships that are essential for effective climate action.