Hydrogen Development in Europe: Estimating Material Consumption in Net Zero Emissions Scenarios

Gondia Sokhna Seck (), Emmanuel Hache, Vincent d'Herbemont, Mathis Guyot and Louis-Marie Malbec
Additional contact information
Gondia Sokhna Seck: IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles
Vincent d'Herbemont: IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles
Mathis Guyot: ECL - École Centrale de Lyon - Université de Lyon
Louis-Marie Malbec: IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Low-carbon hydrogen has already been announced by many countries as one of their priorities for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In Europe, particularly, a political momentum for hydrogen use has strengthened in recent years. This potential for massive development of low-carbon hydrogen technologies in the coming decades raises questions about the world's future dependence on mineral resources and the associated environmental impacts. The aim of this article is to address this issue by assessing the raw materials consumption associated with hydrogen development in Europe up to 2050. The results are based on an analysis of the European hydrogen development pathways resulting from the H24EU project. They highlight the importance of platinum-group metals in electrolysers deployment. Annual iridium demand for PEM electrolysers installed in the European Union could cause major supply tensions since it could reach 164% of its current global production by 2050. Nickel, cobalt, and copper, already associated with high risks of bottlenecks in the energy transition, are not left out: the development of alkaline electrolysis could contribute to a substantial increase in demand for these strategic materials.

Keywords: Hydrogen; Critical Metals; Carbon Neutrality; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-12
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://ifp.hal.science/hal-04253822
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in International Economics, 2023, 176, pp.100457. ⟨10.1016/j.inteco.2023.100457⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: Hydrogen development in Europe: Estimating material consumption in net zero emissions scenarios (2023)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04253822

DOI: 10.1016/j.inteco.2023.100457

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().