Energy Transition, Renewables, Emissions, Carbon
June 10, 2026
ET Highlights: Hydrogen’s move toward reality, factors driving carbon costs, NH3 Clean Energy’s plans for low-carbon fuels production
Energy Transition Highlights: Our editors and analysts bring together the biggest stories in the industry this week, from renewables to storage to carbon prices.
Top story
Hydrogen moves from blueprints to reality as capacity set to double: Hydrogen Council
The hydrogen sector has fundamentally shifted from planning to execution, with global operational production capacity expected to double in 2026 as industrial-scale projects come online, Hydrogen Council CEO Ivana Jemelkova told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy. The shift comes as governments reassess energy investments in the wake of compounded crises.
The milestone reflects a step change in project scale and maturity, with companies now building multi-hundred-megawatt facilities, Jemelkova said in an interview, at a time when the first 10-MW-scale plants began operating only in the last few years in the nascent market.
"Hydrogen is happening," Jemelkova said. "It is now a reality. We are in the middle of actually executing rather than planning or setting the vision. It's steel in the ground." The Hydrogen Council's 2025 Compass report identified $110 billion in committed low-carbon hydrogen investments.
On the flip side, the Hydrogen Council also estimated energy-importing countries in Europe and Asia have spent an additional $100 billion on fossil fuel imports and fiscal measures in just the first two months after the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran – funds which could have accelerated clean technology deployment.
S&P Global Energy Horizons data shows a total of 3.7 GW of installed electrolyzer capacity globally, with over 2.1 GW of that coming online since the start of 2025.
Benchmark of the Week
Eur8.53/kg
Platts-assessed cost of EU-compliant green hydrogen produced via alkaline electrolysis in the Netherlands, backed by renewable power purchase agreements, as of June 8.
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CARBON EXPLAINED: What drives the variance in carbon costs?
Unlike oil and gas, there is no standard price of carbon. Understanding the wide variance in carbon removal costs is a multilayered question that requires understanding the project type and how it generates carbon credits. Emissions are generally considered to cause less harm than removing them altogether, such as through natural carbon capture or blue carbon projects. Then there are more engineered removals like biochar and very expensive direct air capture credits. Understanding the cost of carbon means understanding the type of project and the standard models for generating high-quality, verifiable carbon credits.
Philippines adds SAF production to strategic investment priority plan
The Philippines has identified sustainable aviation fuel production as a strategic investment priority, positioning the biofuel sector to receive government incentives to develop domestic manufacturing capacity and reduce reliance on imports. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the 2026 Strategic Investment Priority Plan on May 21, which places SAF production under Tier II priority activities alongside electric vehicle infrastructure and critical minerals processing, according to a memorandum order. The three-tier framework determines which industries qualify for tax incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, the Philippine Information Agency said.
Maintaining momentum: Permian methane emissions intensity contracts 23% in 2025
Methane emissions intensity in the Permian Basin fell 23% in 2025 to 0.34% per barrel of oil equivalent produced from 0.44% in 2024, according to S&P Global Energy CERA analysis and Insight M data. From 2022 to 2025, basin-wide methane intensity declined by nearly two-thirds, reflecting continued improvement in upstream emissions performance. The reduction occurred within a largely stable production environment and alongside an expanded monitoring frequency, suggesting that the observed decline is not driven by reduced activity levels, according to the analysis.
S&P Global Energy Core
INTERVIEW: Australia’s NH3 Clean Energy targeting WAH2 project FID by year-end: chairman
Australia’s NH3 Clean Energy aims to take a final investment decision on its WAH2 Clean Ammonia Project by year-end, with commercial ammonia-bunkering operations set to start in 2030, aiding the use of cleaner fuels to accelerate decarbonization, chairman Charles Whitfield told Platts. The Western Australia-based project is NH3's flagship plan to supply low-emissions ammonia -- It is targeting refueling for bulk carriers carrying iron ore from Australia to Asia for sustainable shipping, and the emerging clean power market in Asia-Pacific, according to Whitfield.
Envision, Impact Electrons plan SE Asian renewable energy system
China's Envision Energy has signed a strategic partnership with Southeast Asian company Impact Electrons Siam to advance renewable energy in Laos and study the role of renewable hydrogen in enhancing energy stability, according to the companies. The collaboration on the Monsoon Wind Power Project is expected to add significant wind, solar and energy storage capacity, creating an energy system in Southeast Asia. According to Edward Hou, senior vice president and president of Asia-Pacific region at Envision Energy, the future of renewable energy is shifting from competition among individual technologies to system-level integration and intelligent operations.
EC to withhold 190.494 mil carbon permits as EU ETS surplus breaches threshold
The European carbon market will withhold 190.494 million emission allowances from auctions between September 2026 and August 2027, as the bloc's surplus fell below a key threshold for the first time, signaling a tightening supply dynamic that could support prices, the European Commission said. The total number of allowances in circulation stood at 1.023 billion in 2025, falling below the initial 1.096 billion threshold that determines how the Market Stability Reserve operates. This marks the first time the TNAC has fallen below that level since the MSR's introduction, triggering a reduced withdrawal rate that will result in 85 million fewer allowances being placed in reserve than in the previous year.