Abstract
Green Hydrogen (GH2) has been on the rise globally, driven by the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. Hydrogen production from renewable energy sources, specifically wind, solar, and hydro has the potential to significantly lower carbon emissions compared to traditional methods like natural gas reforming. With abundant renewable resources, Australia has the potential to become a major exporter of GH2, driving economic growth while achieving its 2050 net-zero goals, particularly by decarbonizing heavy industries, enabling energy storage and grid stability, and fueling transport.
The Australian Government supports growth of a clean, innovative, safe and competitive hydrogen industry. The 2024 revision of Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy updates the initial targets and policies, addressing emerging issues and evolving market conditions. Despite its potential, the adoption of GH2 faces key challenges like high production costs, slower development of infrastructure for storage and transport, uncertain international market demand, regulatory hurdles in terms of clarity, community acceptance and grid infrastructure limitations. These challenges may also intensify existing inequities particularly for regional, Indigenous or lower-income communities, where GH2 infrastructure maybe sited without equitable consultation or benefit-sharing.
A scoping review of scholarly and grey literature was undertaken to critically assess how current policy and institutional settings shape the enabling environment for GH2 development in Australia. This review seeks to develop actionable pathways to ensure GH2 serves as an effective tool for climate mitigation and social-ecological sustainability by identifying knowledge gaps within technological and infrastructural dimensions, community engagement, regulatory frameworks, and international competitiveness, in the context of policy and governance. Policy development that delivers GH2 in an environmentally sustainable, socially inclusive, and economically viable manner is the sought after downstream impact of this research.