Sasol, a South African energy firm, and Imperial Logistics, a fleet operator, have inked an agreement to investigate green hydrogen in the transportation industry.

Green hydrogen, according to Sasol, may be a viable alternative to coal and assist South Africa in meeting its international climate commitments.

“Sasol’s aspiration is to play a leading role in the co-creation and development of hydrogen ecosystems, with the goal of decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like transportation using green hydrogen produced at its operations facilities leveraging existing process equipment and proprietary technology,” the company stated. “Sasol and Imperial are both interested in decarbonizing heavy-duty long-haul trucking with fuel cell electric trucks.”

In July, Sasol and the national development finance business Industrial Development Corp (IDC) inked a memorandum of understanding to build a green hydrogen economy in South Africa.

At relevant forums, Sasol and IDC announced they would work together on a non-exclusive basis to advocate for policy frameworks that would support a hydrogen economy. This will open the path for the construction of pilot and commercial-scale hydrogen projects to help South Africa move to a cleaner energy future.

Imperial’s CEO, Mohammed Akoojee, stated that Imperial and Sasol shared the same objective.

“We also look forward to collaborating with Sasol to build viable and sustainable greener supply chain solutions that will benefit not only our customers and principals, but the whole logistics and supply chain industry,” he said.