21 - The future of hydrogen – opportunities and challenges

Summary

Context – the energy challenge of the future

Today's energy and transport systems, which are based mainly on fossil energy carriers, can in no way be evaluated as sustainable. Given the continued growth in the world's population as well as the progressive industrialisation of developing nations, particularly in Asia, but also in South America, the global demand for energy is expected to continue to escalate in the coming decades – by more than 50% until 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) – with fossil fuels continuing to dominate global energy use. At the same time, there is a growing global consensus that greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, which keep rising, need to be managed, to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Hence, security of supply and climate change represent two major concerns about the future of the energy sector, which give rise to the challenge of finding the best way to rein in emissions while also providing the energy required to sustain economies. Concerns over energy supply security and climate change, as well as local air pollution and the increasing prices of energy services, are having a growing impact on policy making throughout the world.

The transport sector today accounts for some 18% of primary energy use and some 17% of global CO₂ emissions, with the vast majority of emissions coming from road transport. Transport is also responsible for 20% of the projected increase in both global energy demand and greenhouse-gas emissions until 2030.