A heavyweight, cross-party commission has been set up to monitor the government’s performance on rolling out its recently published Hydrogen Strategy.
The Hydrogen Policy Commission, which was launched on Monday (31 January), plans to publish an assessment of the strategy later this year.
The commission includes former Climate Change Committee vice chair Baroness Brown, Polly Billington, chief executive of the UK 100 climate change umbrella group of local authorities and councillor David Renard, chairman of the Local Government Association’s environment, economy, housing and transport board.
It also includes prominent Conservative Tees Valley metro mayor Ben Houchen and Brexit campaigner Lord Hannan, who is now an adviser to the Department for International Trade.
The commission’s membership additionally extends to opposition figures, such as the Labour Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotheram and Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oates, chief of staff to Nick Clegg when he was deputy prime minister.
The broad-based commission has been set up against a backdrop of industry concerns that the UK government is not providing sufficient cash support for private sector efforts to develop the hydrogen sector.
Baroness Brown of Cambridge said: “Hydrogen is a real opportunity for the UK, with a key role to play in the resilient zero carbon energy system we need to meet the challenges of the changing climate and of global politics. The UK missed the boat on battery and wind technology. We can’t afford to miss the boat on hydrogen.”
Lord Hannan said: “We should aim to have a diversity of energy sources – not least so as not to have to rely on unfriendly powers. Hydrogen is an important part of the picture, and an area where the UK begins with world-beating advantages.”
The commission’s secretariat is provided by the Making Hydrogen Happen Campaign, which is made up of industry organisations.
The government’s Hydrogen Strategy, which was published in August last year, included a commitment to consult on enabling or requiring new natural gas boilers to be convertible to the fuel by 2026.