Promise of hydrogen in the transition to a net-zero emissions future is fraught with challenges in production, storage, and utilisation and including disaster resilience of infrastructure at the current nascent stage can yield exponential benefits, a perspective paper released on Friday said.

"A cogent perspective on disaster and climate resilience of the hydrogen value chain with its infrastructure systems, sub-systems, components and assets is conspicuous by its absence in the current discourse," said the perspective paper on 'The Resilience Imperative: Forward Thinking on Hydrogen Infrastructure' released on the last day of the International Conference on Disaster Resilience Infrastructure here.

The conference was organised by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), a global multi-stakeholder partnership of national government, UN agencies, programmes, multilateral development banks, financing mechanisms, private sector, academic and knowledge institutions, committed to working with various stakeholders to promote the resilience of infrastructure globally in the changing climatic conditions.

"There is a clear need to recognise and understand the vulnerabilities in the value chain including dependence on renewable energy sources in the context of changing climate, the impact of hydrogen production on available natural resources, mainly water, need for investing in specialized transport infrastructure among others," the paper said, and suggested: "Including disaster resilience of infrastructure in the discourse could yield exponential benefits if incorporated at this nascent stage of the hydrogen economy."

The organisers said the perspective paper is based on the practical inputs from different stakeholders globally and secondary theoretical insights from secondary literature review on the importance of taking a holistic approach to the resilience of infrastructure for driving the hydrogen economy and to introduce future programmatic offerings by CDRI.

"A global energy transition is underway. The drivers of this transition include equitable access, security and cleaner forms of energy to address climate change. Across several countries, hydrogen is likely to form a critical pillar of this transition. Hydrogen offers a green carbon-neutral alternative to generate electricity as well as power transport and industry. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report on Mitigation of Climate Change released in April 2022 specifically refers to the role of hydrogen as an energy source for heating, transport and heavy industry," said Kamal Kishore, India Co-chair, CDRI executive committee and Member Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in the foreword of the report.

"The paper underscores the complexities of hydrogen infrastructure globally, while reinforcing the importance of resilience as we transition to renewable energy sources. It is our hope that this paper influences planners and decision makers and serves as a resource for all stakeholders on a transition to a clean and resilient future," Veena Reddy, co-chair CDRI from 2022-2024 as a representative of the US, added.

Promise of hydrogen in the transition to a net-zero emissions future is fraught with challenges in production, storage, and utilisation and including disaster resilience of infrastructure at the current nascent stage can yield exponential benefits, a perspective paper released on Friday said.

"A cogent perspective on disaster and climate resilience of the hydrogen value chain with its infrastructure systems, sub-systems, components and assets is conspicuous by its absence in the current discourse," said the perspective paper on 'The Resilience Imperative: Forward Thinking on Hydrogen Infrastructure' released on the last day of the International Conference on Disaster Resilience Infrastructure here.

The conference was organised by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), a global multi-stakeholder partnership of national government, UN agencies, programmes, multilateral development banks, financing mechanisms, private sector, academic and knowledge institutions, committed to working with various stakeholders to promote the resilience of infrastructure globally in the changing climatic conditions.

"There is a clear need to recognise and understand the vulnerabilities in the value chain including dependence on renewable energy sources in the context of changing climate, the impact of hydrogen production on available natural resources, mainly water, need for investing in specialized transport infrastructure among others," the paper said, and suggested: "Including disaster resilience of infrastructure in the discourse could yield exponential benefits if incorporated at this nascent stage of the hydrogen economy."

The organisers said the perspective paper is based on the practical inputs from different stakeholders globally and secondary theoretical insights from secondary literature review on the importance of taking a holistic approach to the resilience of infrastructure for driving the hydrogen economy and to introduce future programmatic offerings by CDRI.

"A global energy transition is underway. The drivers of this transition include equitable access, security and cleaner forms of energy to address climate change. Across several countries, hydrogen is likely to form a critical pillar of this transition. Hydrogen offers a green carbon-neutral alternative to generate electricity as well as power transport and industry. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report on Mitigation of Climate Change released in April 2022 specifically refers to the role of hydrogen as an energy source for heating, transport and heavy industry," said Kamal Kishore, India Co-chair, CDRI executive committee and Member Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in the foreword of the report.

"The paper underscores the complexities of hydrogen infrastructure globally, while reinforcing the importance of resilience as we transition to renewable energy sources. It is our hope that this paper influences planners and decision makers and serves as a resource for all stakeholders on a transition to a clean and resilient future," Veena Reddy, co-chair CDRI from 2022-2024 as a representative of the US, added.