Wood Mackenzie: Global hydrogen demand could rise six-fold by 2050

October 29, 2021

The time is ripe for the world’s major energy exporters to accelerate the energy transition, and mastering the hydrogen trade could make a difference, says Wood Mackenzie, a Verisk business

The global energy market was worth an eye-watering US$2 trillion in 2020, contributing to more than 9 billion t of CO2e emissions. In the same year, the top five energy exporters – Saudi Arabia, Russia, Australia, the US, and Indonesia – produced more than half of all energy traded.

Wood Mackenzie research director, Prakash Sharma, said: “The global energy trade is set to see its largest disruption since the 1970s and the rise of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

“In addition to investing in renewables to slash emissions and enhance energy security, countries and industries are now looking to electricity-based fuels and feedstocks, and hydrogen could be the gamechanger. A key differentiator is hydrogen’s massive potential in traded energy markets. Low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives could account for around a third of the seaborne energy trade in a net-zero 2050 world.”

Between now and 2050, Wood Mackenzie forecasts global demand for hydrogen to increase between two and six-fold under its Energy Transition Outlook and Accelerated Energy Transition (AET) scenarios. Under the AET-1.5 scenario (1.5°C warming), low-carbon hydrogen demand reaches as much as 530 million t by 2050, with almost 150 million t of that traded on the seaborne market.

Read more here.

Related News

03.28.24

Hydrogen industry pleads for easier path to US tax credits

Some companies planning to use new U.S. tax credits to deploy hydrogen projects urged the Treasury Department this...

CONTINUE READING >
03.28.24

Department of Energy Announces $6 Billion to Transform America’s Industrial Sector, Strengthen Domestic Manufacturing, and Slash Emissions

The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced up to $6 billion for 33 projects across more than 20...

CONTINUE READING >
03.25.24

DOE National Laboratory Consortium to Advance High-Volume Manufacturing of Critical Clean Hydrogen Technologies

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) is pleased to highlight a...

CONTINUE READING >