Green Paper for the IET Sustainability and Net Zero Policy Centre

In partnership with Cranfield University, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has created a Green Paper analysing how hydrogen can support Net Zero and be utilised to build a secure, scalable and resilient Hydrogen Economy.

Hydrogen is not yet a universal fuel. When used selectively where direct electrification is impractical or uneconomic, it can become a powerful enabler of the UK’s transition to net zero. Sectors such as high-temperature process heat, chemical feedstocks, long-haul heavy transport, and long-duration or seasonal energy storage stand to benefit the most.

The UK has significant strengths, including industrial clusters with concentrated demand, internationally respected safety and standards institutions, and a maturing policy framework under the evolving UK Hydrogen Strategy. However, deployment remains slower and costlier than necessary because five enablers are not advancing in unison: infrastructure, supply chain, workforce, finance, and regulation/safety.

Key recommendations in this Green Paper:

• Regional Cluster Deals with Early Storage: Build hydrogen clusters around early salt-cavern storage in the 2030s, while advancing feasibility for seasonal depleted-field storage at Rough and in the Irish Sea for the 2040s, aligned with CCC pathways and NESO planning milestones.
• Finance and Market Design: Introduce standardised offtake agreements with flexibility adders, blended-finance support for first-of-a-kind projects, and explicit integration of Hydrogen-to-Power and Long-Duration Electricity Storage as complementary flexibility mechanisms.
• UK Hydrogen Equipment Manufacturing Taskforce: Address manufacturing bottlenecks by aggregating demand, standardising specifications, expanding shared endurance testing, and accelerating type approvals for compressors, vessels, and valves.
• National Hydrogen Skills Academy: Scale workforce capability through hydrogen-specific safety and materials-integrity training, combining simulation and rig-based learning delivered through regional clusters.
• Consenting Reform: Reduce delivery risk by establishing a single-front-door consenting pathway with case managers, statutory milestones, and standardised documentation.
• Safety and Standards: Codify hydrogen-specific risk-based inspection and embrittlement management, embedding these requirements in training, vendor quality assurance, and transparent reporting.
• System Integration: Treat hydrogen production and storage as core components of the wider flexibility stack, aligned with NESO’s integrated system planning to optimise renewable, battery, and hydrogen assets across time horizons.