Last Wednesday, India approved a $2.3 billion dollar incentive plan to support development of the green hydrogen sector (AP News, Reuters). The incentive plan aims to reduce India’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while also positioning India as a “global hub” in the emerging green hydrogen industry. India aims to develop capacity to produce at least 5 million metric tons of green hydrogen by 2030, reducing dependence on fossil fuel imports and cutting GHG emissions by 50 million metric tons (Reuters). To support the production and use of green hydrogen, India plans to enact mandatory targets for green hydrogen consumption for cities and refineries.

The incentive plan will also help India, one of the largest GHG emitters in the world, reach its 2070 net-zero target (Reuters, AP News). The funding will also help increase India’s renewable energy capacity by 125 gigawatts by 2030 (almost doubling the nation’s current capacity of 166 gigawatts) (AP News). The government anticipates it will invest over $96 billion in the green hydrogen sector by 2030 as it makes a bid to supply at least 10% of the global demand for this fuel by the end of the decade (Reuters). In addition, the plan aims to create more than half a million new jobs and attract greater private investment to the sector (AP News).

The European Union and the United States have already approved billion-dollar package incentives for green hydrogen production. Most of the hydrogen currently produced is manufactured using energy from fossil fuels. While green hydrogen currently composes a small fraction of global hydrogen use, the sector is expected to grow 20-fold by the end of the decade (AP News, Reuters).