Businesses pledge £3bn investment in hydrogen projects

More companies have stepped forward to pledge a total of £3 billion in the emerging hydrogen sector, but only if Boris Johnson backs the fuel in his forthcoming Net Zero speech, expected this week.

Earlier this year, cross-industry group Hydrogen Strategy Now said its members were ready to invest £1.5bn into the UK hydrogen economy. The group revealed that figure has now doubled to £3bn as more businesses line up plans for hydrogen projects across the UK.

Now leading businesses have come together to call on Boris Johnson to pave the way for a British hydrogen economy in his long-awaited energy strategy as they vowed to heavily invest in hydrogen technologies.

Members of Hydrogen Strategy Now, which combined employs around 100,000 people and has a value of £100bn in the UK, said their projects would create thousands of jobs across the country, helping to kick start a post-Covid green recovery.

The group has welcomed the recent appointment of Andrew Griffith, MP for Arundel and the South Downs, as the Government's Net Zero Business Tsar, as a positive step in the right direction from Parliament.

But its members have warned that unless the sector receives load and clear backing from the Government, the UK risks being left behind the rest of the globe.

Attracting cross-party support, the Hydrogen Strategy Now collective wants to see a clear, strategic plan to help unlock significant private funding in hydrogen technologies and manufacturing across the country, driving growth and generating hundreds of thousands of green jobs.

They believe a UK-wide hydrogen economy will create and sustain hundreds of thousands of high-skilled, green jobs, in all parts of the country and in alignment with the Government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda. They believe investment in hydrogen will drive progress to Net Zero and improve air quality in towns and cities, as well as secure private investment into the UK, and unlock export opportunities for our products and skills. The fuel will also increase our energy security by making fuller use of the UK’s natural resources.