What makes for a good clean hydrogen hub?

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) outlines four primary criteria for successful clean hydrogen hubs: minimizing greenhouse gas intensity across the production value chain, prioritizing hard-to-abate end-use sectors, committing to environmental justice and community engagement, and delivering immediate local environmental benefits. These recommendations are directed at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) following the authorization of $8 billion under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 to establish at least four regional hubs.

• To minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity, hydrogen producers using natural gas and carbon capture should maximize carbon capture and storage (CCS) rates and source gas from producers with systems to eliminate methane venting, flaring, and leakage. Producers using electrolyzers should be sited in regions with abundant zero-carbon electricity, and this electricity must be additional to existing and planned generation.
• Hydrogen hubs should prioritize off-takers in hard-to-electrify sectors to maximize climate impact. Key sectors include aviation, marine shipping, ironmaking, heavy-duty long-haul trucking, high temperature industrial process heating, and power sector load balancing.
• Environmental justice and equity must be central to hub development. This includes implementing accessible community engagement (such as meetings outside 9-to-5 hours), creating local jobs with prevailing wages, and conducting annual community environmental health assessments.
• Hubs should provide immediate, tangible environmental benefits to local communities, such as improving air quality by replacing diesel trucks with hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) trucks.

APA

Kent, E. (2022). What makes for a good clean hydrogen hub? Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2022/06/what-makes-good-clean-hydrogen-hub/

Chicago

Kent, Emily. What makes for a good clean hydrogen hub? Clean Air Task Force, 2022. https://www.catf.us/2022/06/what-makes-good-clean-hydrogen-hub/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kent |first1=Emily |title=What makes for a good clean hydrogen hub? |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=8 June 2022 |url=https://www.catf.us/2022/06/what-makes-good-clean-hydrogen-hub/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kent2022what, author = {Kent, Emily}, title = {{What makes for a good clean hydrogen hub?}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2022}, month = jun, url = {https://www.catf.us/2022/06/what-makes-good-clean-hydrogen-hub/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }