Toyota says that a study by the Hydrogen Council – of which it is a member – suggests that if deployed at scale hydrogen could account for almost one-fifth of total final energy consumed by 2050. This, it is claimed, would reduce annual global CO2 emissions by roughly 6 gigatons compared to today’s levels, and contribute ‘roughly 20% of the abatement required to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius’.

The Hydrogen Council sees the potential for hydrogen to power about 10-15m cars and 500,000 trucks by 2030.

On the demand side, the Hydrogen Council sees the potential for hydrogen to power about 10-15m cars and 500,000 trucks by 2030, with many uses in other sectors as well, such as industry processes and feedstocks, building heating and power, power generation and storage.

Overall, the study predicts that the annual demand for hydrogen could increase ten-fold by 2050 to almost 80 EJ in 2050 meeting 18% of total final energy demand in the 2050 two-degree scenario. At a time when global populations are expected to grow by two billion people by 2050, hydrogen technologies have the potential to create opportunities for sustainable economic growth, the study says.

“The world in the 21st century must transition to widespread low carbon energy use,” said Takeshi Uchiyamada, Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation and co-chair of the Hydrogen Council. “Hydrogen is an indispensable resource to achieve this transition because it can be used to store and transport wind, solar and other renewable electricity to power transportation and many other things. The Hydrogen Council has identified seven roles for hydrogen, which is why we are encouraging governments and investors to give it a prominent role in their energy plans. The sooner we get the hydrogen economy going, the better, and we are all committed to making this a reality.”

The Hydrogen Council says that achieving such scale would require substantial investments; approximately US$20-25bn annually for a total of about US$280bn until 2030. 

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