Crédits d’impôt pour l’hydrogène : la loi américaine sur la réduction de l’inflation

The document analyzes the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) approach to clean hydrogen through investment and production tax credits, evaluating their economic benefits and limitations to inform Canadian policy. It details the IRA's emission-based credit tiers and emphasizes the need for Canada to integrate its existing carbon pricing and focus on the entire hydrogen ecosystem to remain competitive.

• The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act defines 'clean' hydrogen as production emitting less than 4 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq) per kilogram of hydrogen over its full life cycle, making technologies like renewable energy electrolysis (green hydrogen) and steam methane reforming with carbon capture (blue hydrogen) eligible.
• The IRA provides two primary financial incentives: an investment tax credit (Section 48) offering up to 30% of project costs based on emission intensity and labor requirements, and a production tax credit (Section 45V) providing a 10-year subsidy ranging from $0.60 to $3.00 USD per kilogram of clean hydrogen.
• Economic advantages of the U.S. policy include stimulating private and foreign investment, reducing production costs through economies of scale and learning curves, and ensuring social equity by linking credit eligibility to prevailing wages and apprenticeship requirements.
• Potential limitations of the tax credit model include the use of limited public funds (opportunity cost), the risk of creating inflationary pressure, the need for high technical expertise to avoid 'parasitic' systems, and the risk that fixed emission thresholds may discourage further innovation.
• Canada's approach to clean hydrogen differs from the U.S. because Canada uses carbon pricing to increase the cost of 'grey' hydrogen, which may reduce the size of the tax credits needed to make clean hydrogen competitive.
• To maximize the effectiveness of its own hydrogen strategy, Canada should link investment credits to final production performance, support the entire ecosystem (including storage and transport), and target export markets with high climate ambitions, such as the European Union.

APA

Canadian Climate Institute (2023). Crédits d’impôt pour l’hydrogène : la loi américaine sur la réduction de l’inflation. https://institutclimatique.ca/publications/credits-dimpot-hydrogene-loi-americaine-reduction-inflation/

Chicago

Canadian Climate Institute. Crédits d’impôt pour l’hydrogène : la loi américaine sur la réduction de l’inflation. 2023. https://institutclimatique.ca/publications/credits-dimpot-hydrogene-loi-americaine-reduction-inflation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Climate Institute |title=Crédits d’impôt pour l’hydrogène : la loi américaine sur la réduction de l’inflation |date=14 February 2023 |url=https://institutclimatique.ca/publications/credits-dimpot-hydrogene-loi-americaine-reduction-inflation/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianclimateinstitute2023crdits, author = {{Canadian Climate Institute}}, title = {{Crédits d’impôt pour l’hydrogène : la loi américaine sur la réduction de l’inflation}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://institutclimatique.ca/publications/credits-dimpot-hydrogene-loi-americaine-reduction-inflation/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }