The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy of South Korea said that starting in 2024, a new clean hydrogen certification system would be in place that will measure company carbon footprints based on their size rather than their method of production.
By examining the amount of carbon produced during its production, the new approach will assess if hydrogen can be labeled as “low carbon”; the fewer the emissions, the larger the incentives for businesses.
The production procedure has so far been used by the Korean government to evaluate hydrogen’s performance. Industries have demanded a change to the approach, though, to properly account for the carbon footprint.
The Energy Ministry stated during Wednesday’s industry conference that it is working on the new plan while analyzing various hydrogen production techniques and global trends, with intentions to release the draft in 2023.
For enhanced customer accessibility, energy providers requested during the discussion that current gas stations and liquefied petroleum gas charging stations be combined with hydrogen charging infrastructure.
In response, the ministry stated that it will talk about associated regulatory concerns in order to lower barriers to entry in the early stages of the hydrogen market.
In addition, the ministry reiterated its intention to adopt the Clean Hydrogen Portfolio Standards, which, starting in 2019, would require energy businesses to employ clean hydrogen with reduced emissions. According to the nation’s carbon neutrality objective, which seeks to cut carbon emissions by 40% from the level of 2021, the new program is set to go into effect the following year.
