Outlook 2024: How digitalisation can help enable the hydrogen economy

The time for us to act on hydrogen technology is now, and if we hope to achieve success, digitalisation will play a critical role in those efforts

It’s long been used in industry for everything from refining petroleum to treating metals to processing foods, but in recent years hydrogen has been hailed as a key fuel source that could reduce—or even end—the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. For all its promise, though, the reality is that hydrogen is not a silver bullet when it comes to climate change. While there is little doubt that hydrogen will play a key role in global decarbonisation efforts, to understand how and why, it’s important to first start with what’s been called the “long tail” model of climate change solutions. According to that model, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and even nuclear power, in