Billionaire Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest and former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull have teamed up to push the production of hydrogen using only renewable energy, or the so-called green hydrogen, disregarding carbon capture.
They have already officially launched a group called the Green Hydrogen Organisation yesterday, timing it with the New York Climate Week and the United Nations General Assembly. And according to their statement regarding the launch, the group’s primary aim will be to advocate solely for green hydrogen, as opposed to ‘blue’ hydrogen that is produced using fossil fuels and is, in their own words, ‘a distraction’.
In addition to pushing for green hydrogen, both Forrest and Turnbull expressed their criticism of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. In their view, the concept has proven to be a failure even with the massive amount of government support it has received around the world.
Turnbull argued that only green hydrogen can be considered the fuel of the future, as other alternatives like blue hydrogen actually emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which essentially defeats their purpose.
He went on to say that the oil and coal industries predictably have a vested interest in promoting the production and use of hydrogen they can produce with the help of traditional energy sources. But that only prolongs the use of fossil fuels and brings us farther away from decarbonizing the economy.
Both Forest and Turnbull admitted to having had high hopes for the future of carbon capture technologies, but both claimed to have witnessed its inconsistent effectiveness.
The pair have also joined forces on a separate initiative – Fortescue Future Industries, which is a spinoff of Forest’s iron ore company Fortescue Metals Group. In turn, Fortescue Future Industries will provide the push for the resources company to transition to renewable energy and green hydrogen.
