2023-10-07 12:38:21
Energy, transport, sustainable renovation, greening… In 2023, Libé is exploring the theme of ecological transition during a series of unique meetings. Objective: to demonstrate the issues and find solutions as close as possible to the territories. Fourth stage in Dunkirk, October 13, 14 and 15.
As part of the announcements on ecological planning, Monday September 25, Emmanuel Macron displayed his desire to “massively develop hydrogen”. The idea is fashionable. In 2021, France launched its 9 billion euro hydrogen plan with great fanfare. On the European side, the Commission recently presented its hydrogen bank project and its 5 billion euros in financing.
Hydrogen is on the rise. This would be the miracle solution that would allow us to decarbonize our economies and achieve our energy independence. As is often the case, the devil is in the details.
The details are first of all the color. For hydrogen, we speak of black, brown, green or pink. As much hydrogen as there is energy to produce it. We might as well say it clearly, for the climate, only green hydrogen, made from renewable energies, is relevant. Except that… more than 99% of current hydrogen production comes from fossil fuels, largely gas! Not differentiating green hydrogen from the rest, as Emmanuel Macron and the Commission do, means locking ourselves even further into dependence on fossil fuels, from Putin’s gas to the very polluting American shale gas.
Beyond the question of fossils, the added value of hydrogen – even green – is limited to a few uses. For metallurgy in particular. Switching from coal to green hydrogen in the blast furnaces of the ArcelorMittal plant in Dunkirk, the second highest CO2-emitting industrial site in France, would be a big step towards green steel. Also for the chemical industry and, ultimately, for heavy mobility, the use of renewable hydrogen can serve decarbonization. Hydrogen could also complement renewable energies by allowing the storage of excess electricity production.
Under these conditions, it must be added that the production – still too low – of renewable electricity must not be diverted from its current uses for an energy vector – and not an energy – whose use is only relevant for margin. Renewable energy used for hydrogen should always come from additional capacities to avoid damaging competition between direct electrification and hydrogen.
Faced with the difficulties of scaling up in Europe, the European Union relies largely – 50% – on imports. The EU and certain member states have already signed agreements with Egypt, Morocco and Namibia. The sinister European colonial reflex of taking control of the resources of the countries of the South still has a bright future ahead of it… The massive increase in European imports of green hydrogen would absorb the majority of the renewable electricity produced by these countries to the detriment of local populations, such as in Namibia where 44% of inhabitants do not have access to electricity. These new energy dependencies also pose the risk of perpetuating our support for authoritarian and illegitimate regimes, disregarding the choices of their citizens. Hydrogen production must therefore be local!
The IPCC report and the brutal observation of our energy dependence on authoritarian leaders both speak to the same urgency of the ecological transition. It is clear that hydrogen is not the miracle solution. The champions of techno-solutionism who would have us believe that hydrogen would make it possible to change everything without changing anything are deluding themselves. On the other hand, if its production is local, from renewable energies and its use reserved for relevant uses, hydrogen can participate in the fight against climate change and the conquest of our energy sovereignty. A conditional solution.
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