The global push toward net-zero emissions has created an urgent need for clean energy solutions across all sectors. While renewable electricity has made significant strides in powering homes and light vehicles, heavy industries face unique challenges that make electrification difficult or impossible. This is where green hydrogen steps in as a game-changing technology.
The Industrial Carbon Challenge
Heavy industries including steel manufacturing, cement production, and chemical processing account for nearly 30% of global carbon emissions. These sectors require extremely high temperatures and specific chemical processes that cannot be easily replaced with renewable electricity alone. Traditional methods rely heavily on fossil fuels, particularly coal and natural gas, making them some of the hardest sectors to decarbonize.
Steel production, for instance, requires temperatures exceeding 1,500 degrees Celsius. Current methods use coking coal not just for heat, but as a chemical reducing agent to extract iron from ore. Similarly, cement production involves chemical reactions that inherently release CO2, making it doubly challenging to decarbonize.
How Green Hydrogen Transforms Industrial Processes
Green hydrogen offers a direct replacement for fossil fuels in these applications. Produced through electrolysis powered by renewable energy, it generates zero emissions at the point of use, releasing only water vapor. In steel production, hydrogen can replace coking coal as both a heat source and reducing agent, enabling truly clean steel manufacturing.
Several pilot projects worldwide are demonstrating this potential. SSAB in Sweden is leading the HYBRIT initiative, which has already produced fossil-free steel using hydrogen. ThyssenkKrupp in Germany is converting blast furnaces to run on hydrogen, with plans to eliminate coal entirely by 2045.
Economic Viability and Scale
The economics of green hydrogen continue to improve rapidly. Electrolyser costs have fallen by 60% over the past decade, and this trend is accelerating. As renewable energy becomes cheaper and production scales up, green hydrogen is expected to reach cost parity with fossil fuel alternatives by 2030 in many applications.
Governments are accelerating this transition through policy support. The European Union has committed over 430 billion euros to hydrogen development, while the United States Inflation Reduction Act provides substantial tax credits for clean hydrogen production. These initiatives are creating the market conditions necessary for rapid scaling.
The Path Forward
Industry leaders recognize that green hydrogen is not just an environmental imperative but an economic opportunity. Companies that adopt this technology early will gain competitive advantages as carbon pricing and regulations intensify. The infrastructure for hydrogen production, storage, and distribution is expanding rapidly, with new pipelines and facilities being built across Europe, Asia, and North America.
The transition will not happen overnight, but the momentum is undeniable. Green hydrogen represents the best and perhaps only viable path to decarbonizing heavy industry while maintaining the production capacity needed for modern society.
