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Big Oil Is Fueling The Hydrogen
Rush
Earlier this
month, I shared the story of Irish EVs and how they pretty much busted
local PR agencies for greenwashing the climate crisis through
disinformation campaigns. A couple of days after that article was
published, there was a discussion on Twitter — I was tagged, and Peter
Miller shared screenshots of what he gets bombarded with every day
The screenshots Peter shared were from
numerous blog posts and news sources touting hydrogen in various ways.
The fact that hydrogen is suddenly being pushed in our faces is not
going unnoticed, and I’ve always said that before you act on the
message being presented, ask why. What’s the
real reason this message is being pushed out there?
Peter also shared an article by
The Guardian that pointed out how a PR firm, Kingspan,
hired lobbyists to try to persuade MPs that the insulation used by
another company was just as dangerous as theirs. The PR firm went as
far as rigging the actual tests. The reason was fear of a ban on
combustible insulation. Although this particular article was unrelated
to the fact that big oil is pushing this, it does show an example of
just how far some PR firms will go.
How
Big Oil Fits In This Picture
Observatory (CEO) and Food and Water
Action Europe. The report shared a few quotes from executives such as
Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President for the European Green
Deal, who said, “Hydrogen rocks, and I am committed to making it a
success!” Another quote came from James Watson, Secretary General of
Eurogas, who reacted to the
EU Hydrogen Strategy in the following way: “A new dawn for gas in
Europe. … This is going to be a step-change for the gas sector and one
which we are embracing and leading.”
Michael Bloss, German Greens MEP, who
also reacted to the EY Hydrogen Strategy, was a bit more direct in his
response: “The gas lobby has massive influence on the EU hydrogen
strategy. While the Commission makes it clear that clean hydrogen must
come from renewable energies, it still wants to invest in fossil
hydrogen.”
Some Key Findings From The Report
The key findings of the report show that
the hydrogen lobby’s main players are fossil gas companies, which
declared a combined annual expenditure of €58.6 million with the goal
of influencing Brussels policy-making. It’s noted that the number
could actually be a gross underestimate.
The hydrogen industry met with European
Commissioners Timmermans, Simson, Breton, their cabinets and
directors-general 163 times on energy topics between December 2019 and
September 2020 — this is a stark difference from the 37 meetings on
energy between high ranking Commission officials and NGOs.
Public relations firm FTI Consulting,
which was exposed in the USA for creating fake pro–fossil fuel
grassroots organizations on behalf of big oil and gas, has been a key
player in creating the hydrogen lobby. The firm is behind Hydrogen
Europe and the Hydrogen Council, which are the lobby groups most
responsible for creating the hydrogen hype.
In July 2020, The Commission’s European
Hydrogen Strategy was published and the report pointed out that this
is very similar to the lobby group Hydrogen Europe’s demands,
including goals and investments needed for hydrogen both in and
outside of the EU — a cost of €430 billion by 2030.
The European Commission has also put the
gas industry in the lead on many new hydrogen-focused bodies such as
the “Clean Hydrogen Alliance.” These giant fossil fuel industries are
responsible for creating a list of hydrogen projects that are eligible
for public funds — a glaring conflict of interest.
A public-private partnership between the
European Commission and Hydrogen Europe, “Fuel Cells and Hydrogen —
Joint Undertaking,” has been a key creator of the hydrogen hype and
has ensured that more public funds will flow to Hydrogen Europe
members in the next few years. This is in addition to the €1 billion
in public funds for the industry’s past projects, between 2014–2020.
Failed carbon capture and storage/usage
(CCS/U) technology is not only being brought back, but is receiving
political, financial, and regulatory support. This is so that the EU
can justify the inclusion of fossil-fuel-based hydrogen in its 2050
climate plans.
The EU also rebranded its fossil gas
network as Europe’s future “Hydrogen Backbone,” even though it just
adds small amounts of hydrogen into existing gas pipelines in the
short term. For the longer term, it will supposedly repurpose them for
hydrogen, but as we’ve shown recently,
that’s not as easy as it sounds and probably isn’t logical. It
appears that the European Commission is supporting industry plans
nonetheless, and this would give a green light to companies building
and operating fossil gas infrastructure to carry on as before.
The Hydrogen Backbone is also being used
by both industry and member states to bring back controversial
mega-projects such as the Franco-Spanish-Portuguese MidCat fossil gas
pipeline, which was denied on climate grounds.
Additional Notes From The Report
The researchers who published the report
noted that the hydrogen lobby spent almost €60 million to influence
Brussels policymakers and have met with key hydrogen-related
Commissioners and their cabinets several times. Since 2018, two deputy
directors-general for energy have ended their 30-year careers to go
into jobs with the law firm Baker Mackenzie, where they work on future
gases like hydrogen.
PR firm FTI Consulting has also been key
in creating and running hydrogen lobby groups to keep the hype alive.
The report noted that creating this much hype both domestically and
globally suits the interest of the fossil gas industry. “If the gas
industry can get the whole economy demanding hydrogen, then it would
be almost impossible to meet demand through green hydrogen alone (even
if imported), meaning fossil fuel hydrogen would de facto keep
flowing,” the report noted.
Almost all hydrogen today is generated
with fossil fuels, and the gas lobby intends to use the hydrogen hype
to keep its current model alive — a centralized, fossil fuel-based
energy model, owned and controlled by just a small group of big energy
corporations. The hydrogen hype has also successfully distracted the
debate away from when and how we move away from fossil fuels toward a
zero-carbon, fully-electrified economy. It has also shifted focus away
from the questions of the kind of economy we want, away from the
workers and communities who pay for it, and away from just who this
system serves.
What Is FTI Consulting’s Role?
Public relations firms are often known
for helping companies rebrand themselves, especially in the event of
them messing up publicly. FTI Consulting is working on behalf of the
oil industry, and below are some details of its involvement listed in
the report.
FTI Consulting is well known for its
involvement with the fossil fuel industry on both sides of the
Atlantic. It’s also behind the two most powerful hydrogen lobby
groups: Hydrogen Europe and the Hydrogen Council. The report also
pointed out that the contact address for the Hydrogen Council is FTI’s
Brussels headquarters.
FTI was recently
busted in the US for setting up front groups for energy companies
that purport to show grassroots support for destructive fossil-fuels
initiatives. Some of those groups were “Texans for Natural Gas,” which
supports fracking, and the “Arctic Energy Center,” which advocates
drilling in Alaskan waters and the Arctic wildlife refuge. Its clients
in Europe include Gas Naturally, Eurogas, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline,
and ExxonMobil. In the case of Exxon, it paid up to €900,000 to the
company in 2019.
The report also pointed out that
Constantine Levoyannis, the Head of Policy at Hydrogen Europe since
May of this year, was a Director at FTI Consulting who advised clients
from the energy industry. He’d joined FTI a month after he quit
working at the European Parliament, where he was a political advisor
to Greek MEP Niki Tzavela. He is also head of the Brussels branch of
the Greek Energy Forum and is well known for promoting the highly
controversial Trans Adriatic Pipeline. Although, he didn’t go straight
into Hydrogen Europe from FTI — he also worked with the French gas
infrastructure company GRTgaz.
The report also pointed out that although
the Hydrogen Council declared less than €10,000 in lobbying the EU, in
2019 it paid FTI Consulting between €700,000 and €799,999.
Don’t Believe The Hydrogen Hype
The report is very detailed, and this
article only scratches the surface of the deep dive it took into the
creation of the hydrogen hype.
The report, which you can read here, emphasized that the hydrogen
hype has been created alongside the gas industry and is being used as
a distraction from moving away from fossil fuels. Those who it wants
to distract are pretty much everyone, but especially global
policymakers and advocacy groups. So, if you see those catchy news
articles about hydrogen with sweet headlines that make you feel good
about it, don’t believe the hype.
Remember, to do your own research.
Featured image: cover of
The Hydrogen Hype
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