The controversies about Green Hydrogen: questions for decarbonization via defossilization

Abstract

Within the framework of a systemic and socio-ecological crisis that singles out the current stage of capitalism, the energy transition processes have acquired a place of hierarchy in the public agendas of various countries. Although with different speeds and characteristics, state, business, scientific and social actors are facing actions, research, programs, public and private projects to replace the use of fossil energy sources with renewable ones. The emission of greenhouse gases comes mainly from the combustion of oil, gas and coal, and therefore the process of decarbonization and defossilization is a goal of unavoidable relevance to slow down global warming. Within the energy alternatives that are promoted to carry out this process, the production of Green Hydrogen has been generating favorable expectations, not only to supply the internal consumption of non-polluting energy, but also as an export merchandise. In this article, dimensions related to the production of this energy vector are systematized, problematizing a series of controversies related to its impulse. As several megaprojects are still in a planning phase in various geographies, issues in the discussion stage and information provision are replaced in an analytical and descriptive way with reference to the questions, warnings and potentialities of this class of hydrogen with respect to the resources that are used, the development and transition model that their expansion implies, their possible territorial, ecological and environmental effects. The methodology used is qualitatively oriented, and the privileged sources of information are of a secondary nature (technical reports, testimonies from various social, scientific, economic actors, expressed in the media, bibliography).