India sets emissions cap of 2 kg CO2e per kg renewable hydrogen as standard

India has set an emissions cap of 2 kg carbon dioxide equivalent for 1 kg of renewable hydrogen as a 12-month average to establish a standard for the nascent industry to help its production and trade, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said Aug. 19.

India's National Green Hydrogen Mission, released in January, aims for a production of 5 million mt of renewable hydrogen by 2030 and a 10% share of the global trade around that time.

"The non biogenic greenhouse gas emissions arising from water treatment, electrolysis, gas purification and drying and compression of hydrogen shall not be greater than 2 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram of hydrogen, taken as an average over the last 12 months," MNRE said.

Likewise, "non-biogenic greenhouse gas emissions arising from biomass processing, heat/steam generation, conversion of biomass to hydrogen, gas purification and drying and compression of hydrogen shall not be greater than 2 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram of hydrogen taken as an average over 12 months."

The standard outlines the emissions thresholds that must be met in order for hydrogen produced to be classified as renewable, it said.

A detailed methodology for measurement, reporting, monitoring, on-site verification and certification of renewable hydrogen and its derivatives shall be specified later by MNRE, it said.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, an arm of the Power Ministry, shall be the nodal authority for accreditation of agencies for the monitoring, verification and certification of renewable hydrogen projects, it added.

"The notification of the green hydrogen standard brings a lot of clarity to the green hydrogen community in India and was widely awaited," NMRE said. With this, "India becomes one of the first few countries in the world to announce a definition of green hydrogen."

S&P Global Commodity Insights' Hydrogen Production Assets database shows India has 86 renewable or low carbon hydrogen projects with an estimated production of about 3 million mt/year.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed Qatar hydrogen produced via alkaline electrolysis (including Capex) at $2.61/kg Aug. 18, stable on the month. Japan hydrogen produced via alkaline electrolysis (including Capex) was assessed at $5.04/kg Aug. 18, down 15% from a month earlier.