Joint effort needed for climate neutrality

"Germany is considered an international, leading business location for technology innovation. We will enable key stakeholders and developers at the H2 EXPO & CONFERENCE here in Hamburg to engage in cross-industry talks and the associated development and presentation of their projects," said Bernd Aufderheide, CEO of Hamburg Messe und Congress. Value-added networks and new alliances focusing on renewable, green hydrogen are emerging worldwide to establish urgently-needed decarbonisation measures. From production to transport and consumption, from the energy carrier to storage in electricity-based derivatives such as Power-to-Liquid (PtL), it is becoming clear that ambitious climate targets can only be achieved through cross-industry national and international co-operation.

Solutions are being sought for the transport sector in particular as around 28.5 per cent of European greenhouse gas emissions originate there, according to the European Parliament's infographic "Emissions from planes and ships: facts and figures". The growing number of hydrogen filling stations in Europe is one such approach. Clean refuelling is already possible at six hydrogen filling stations in Hamburg and the gradual decarbonisation of aviation is also underway. Hamburg Aviation presented the "Green Fuels Hamburg" project for climate-neutral aviation in late June. A consortium consisting of Airbus, Uniper, Siemens Energy and Sasol ecoFT has announced plans to build a production plant in Hamburg to manufacture at least 10,000 tonnes of green paraffin and to supply up to 20 per cent of the blending quota set by the German government from 2026.

Last year, Aurubis launched a series of tests on the use of hydrogen on an industrial scale for the production of copper anodes in Hamburg. "The immense number of green hydrogen projects reflects the urgency of a climate-neutral renewable energy economy," said Claus Ulrich Selbach, Head of Maritime and Technology Fairs at Hamburg Messe und Congress. Many of these projects will be on show during the H2 Expo and Conference.

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