Hydrogen is an energy carrier and industrial feedstock that could be the foundation of a new energy-industrial network based on renewable energy. There has been a global resurgence of interest in the use of hydrogen, notably green hydrogen produced from renewable resources,1 owing to its potential to help decarbonise sectors for which few alternatives presently exist. These sectors include long-haul transport, iron and steel production, long-term energy storage and liquid fuels such as kerosene and heavy fuel oil. Hydrogen is thus a likely enabler to achieve climate change policy goals, predicated on the notion that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from economic activity should be as close to nil as possible as an objective for a movement towards 2050, which is now becoming the new frontier for climate policy ambition around the world.

Global appetite for hydrogen presents further economic opportunities for South Africa.

The country’s renewable energy resources, mineral endowment and manufacturing prowess position it to competitively produce and export hydrogen-derived commodities, such as green ammonia, as well as high-value machinery such as fuel-cell components.

These could mirror South Africa’s present export market share of automotive catalytic converters.2 In addition to green hydrogen’s contribution to achieving the ‘net-zero carbon’ goal by 2050, the extent to which it could contribute to employment growth and low-carbon development in South Africa has also received increasing attention in the past two years.3 The present study forms part of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) – UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT) South Africa 2021 project on building the green hydrogen economy (GHE) and Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) Skills Just Transition. It aims to contribute to this body of work by applying advanced and economy-wide modelling of national energy systems, including hydrogen use, and their economic (gross domestic product [GDP] and employment) and GHG emission impacts.