The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) has called for hydrogen to be given a far greater role in the decarbonisation of transport in a report.
On 4 June, it published Driving Change, in which it warned that any approach to decarbonising transport – noted as being the biggest contributor to emissions – must not leave any vehicle behind, nor forego significant future economic opportunities. This means government must ensure progress is made on cleaning up heavy duty vehicles, with the report advocating hydrogen power as far more suitable to forms of transport such as buses, trucks, trains and ships than electric batteries.
It made a series of recommendations for government, including that the UK’s bus fleet is used as a testbed for hydrogen technology. This would hand Britain the opportunity to lead the world in a key sector and create thousands of green jobs in the process. Furthermore, with the country likely to require hydrogen infrastructure to aid decarbonisation of other sectors, the report said it made sense to lay the groundwork now. This would place the UK at the forefront of a new, low-carbon industry with significant export potential.
Further recommendations made included setting out a UK-wide hydrogen strategy before COP26 and establishing a cross-departmental work group; ensuring that Britain develops adequate hydrogen infrastructure, including investment through the government’s clean energy funds; ensuring the UK’s bus fleet is zero emissions by 2038; and developing individual decarbonisation strategies within the Transport Decarbonisation Plan for HGVs and LGVs, buses, trains, shipping and aviation.
