For over two decades Iceland has been viewing the role of H2 in its strategy to decarbonize its fuel consumption. The transport sector, including maritime activities, is responsible for a large share GHG emissions in Iceland. The Government of Iceland has already implemented various incentives to stimulate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles and the country is in second place when it comes to deployment of zero-emission vehicles, second to Norway globally.

Even with such great results, specifically in the smaller vehicles segment with battery electric vehicles, it is unlikely that the country can meet its goals for a 29% reduction of GHG emissions set out in the Paris Agreement. The gap is even larger when looking at the national goal of 40% reduction by 2030. This could though change as the Government announced on June 23rd 2020 a 300M€ climate package to be executed over the next 4 years, to reach these goals (a 7-fold increase from a previous climate action funding).

Hydrogen in various forms, including e-fuels such as methanol, ammonia, methane, synthetic diesel, etc., could play a vital role in closing this gap. There are numerous opportunities to stimulate the use of H2 in larger vehicles, trucks, buses/coaches, and alike, and also in high utilization vehicles such as taxis.

Already H2 projects like the H2ME-2* project are in motion in Iceland but in order to reach Iceland’s climate goals, larger projects must be implemented. With power generation almost entirely from renewable energy sources at one of the most competitive prices in the world, Iceland should be the ideal platform for a complete sustainable transport system.

Read more here and please find the entire Iceland’s 2030 hydrogen vision here.