The International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) is a partnership that connects governments and coordinates directly with national ministries to create a future hydrogen society. Established in November 2003, it is an international partnership to promote and accelerate a society that facilitates the transition to clean and efficient energy and mobility systems using hydrogen and fuel cells. How will this organization realize the future hydrogen society? We asked Dr. Laurent Antoni, Executive Director of IPHE.

IPHE was born as a partnership to promote information exchange and collaboration at the governmental ministry level in various countries regarding research and development, regulations, standard specifications, and safety for a hydrogen society. At that time, twenty years ago, hydrogen was not as popular as it is today, but the governments of 15-16 countries still participated. As a result of calling for the realization of a hydrogen society over many years, 24 members including 23 countries and the EU are now participating. All G7 countries and 14 countries from the G20 are members.

At the ministry level, Japan is represented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Depending on the country, it might be the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Energy, or Ministry of Economy, but all are public institutions. Public institutions also include national agencies, universities and national laboratories, forming a partnership between governments. IPHE serves as the secretariat for this intergovernmental partnership.

Aiming for a Hydrogen Society Through International Collaboration

Twenty years ago, when IPHE was established, there was a need to develop the hydrogen economy and foster collaboration between countries. Therefore, it focused on research and development, regulations, and standardization. Currently, as research and development has progressed, it focuses more on implementation, creativity, trade, and certification. Since Mission Innovation supports research and development and innovation, IPHE handles other aspects. It focuses on methods to create markets and concentrate on bottlenecks such as regulations/rules, standardization, trade rules, skill development, and safety that hinder market creation.

IPHE’s primary purpose is sharing knowledge and government-level policies, strategies, and regulations for a hydrogen society. This allows all countries to understand other countries’ circumstances. It continuously monitors each country’s R&D levels, new standards, and new regulations.

There are eight Working Groups (WGs) and Task Forces (TFs) to determine various themes for collaboration between countries. For example, there are WGs for education and outreach, regulations, codes, standardization, and safety, and TFs for analyzing hydrogen’s environmental impact. After discussions in these groups, IPHE shares information and expands partnerships with organizations like the IEA (International Energy Agency), UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), WTO (World Trade Organization) and Mission Innovation.

For example, one TF theme involves preparing for the transportation and use of hydrogen as fuel in shipping. Here, regulations need to be created for hydrogen and underground storage. As an earthquake-prone country, Japan is not suitable for underground hydrogen storage, but some countries store it in caves. In other words, circumstances differ by country.

Let’s Align Different Words and Meanings

Even with regulations, interpretations can differ between countries. For instance, the term “clean hydrogen” seems to differ by country. IPHE calls hydrogen that contributes to a decarbonized society during production “clean hydrogen.” Or following IEA’s recommendation “low-emission hydrogen” Also, hydrogen’s excellence lies in being a democratic material that anyone can produce. Since any country can use hydrogen as a future energy source, trade becomes possible between countries that consume and produce large amounts. For example, Japan and Germany will likely be consuming countries. When trading hydrogen, there is a need to at least define and standardize the language.

Furthermore, “Certification will be required to determine whether ‘low-emission hydrogen’ was produced using renewable energy, low-carbon electricity, biomass, or biogas. That’s why we need to properly define low-emission hydrogen, add certification processes, and standardize it. Through certification, hydrogen can be traded.” says Dr. Antoni.

When certifying whether hydrogen is “clean”, the GHG emissions during hydrogen production must be quantified. These emissions must be minimized as much as possible. This approach is based on the fact that hydrogen has traditionally been produced using fossil fuels. Measuring the carbon footprint, or Greenhouse Gas emissions, during hydrogen production becomes important.

“Here, renewable means using renewable electricity for electrolysis to generate hydrogen. And low-carbon means producing hydrogen using either nuclear or fossil fuels, but also using CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage).” explains Dr. Antoni.

IPHE created a guideline for quantifying Greenhouse gas emissions using a common method and submitted it to ISO (International Organization for Standardization) two years ago. Dr. Antoni expects it will become an ISO standardization by 2025.

The next step is to consider the certification method. There are 20-30 different schemes worldwide. How can IPHE help countries understand these numerous certification methods? It’s not easy to create a unified method by determining what’s common and different among certification schemes used in various countries. One approach would be to certify based on the Japanese method in Europe or vice versa, but IPHE supported to move toward mutual recognition of certification schemes. Such a declaration of intent has been proposed at last year’s COP28, and got 39 countries to sign. Going forward, countries will cooperate through IPHE and the IEA Hydrogen TCP (International Energy Agency Hydrogen Technology Collaboration Program).

IPHE is truly a global partnership. While IPHE mainly holds discussions through web meetings, it holds face-to-face steering committee meetings twice a year. This March it was held in New Delhi, India, and the next will be in Brussels, Belgium. There are also site visits. A year ago, there was a visit to a platinum mine using a hydrogen powered truck in South Africa, the current IPHE Chair. The vice-chairs are members from Japan, the US, and the Netherlands.

Confirming No Overlap with RD20

RD20 is a unified organization targeting national laboratories, focusing on research and development. IPHE doesn’t handle specifically research and development. CEA-Liten colleagues have participated in RD20 before, as CEA-Liten is a research institute. However, since IPHE doesn’t deal with research and development, I as IPHE Executive Director have never participated in RD20. But I was invited to this Tokyo symposium and given the opportunity to speak to help people understand IPHE.

However, for IPHE, it is meaningful to ensure cooperation as well as no duplication with RD20. Particularly regarding low-emission hydrogen, it’s also meaningful as a venue to confirm no duplication with Clean Hydrogen Mission Innovation, which focuses on research and development. Therefore, we need to stay informed about research and development activities through Mission Innovation. However, we won’t participate in RD20 in India in December.

Kenji Tsuda Editor in Chief, Semiconductor Portal