The Japan-New Zealand Hydrogen Corridor has been established on March 5. The consortium is going to study the commercialization when it comes to green hydrogen production across New Zealand and export operations to Japan.
Hydrogen, apparently, is anticipated to play a major role as a clean energy source that does not emit CO₂ when it gets burned. Its usage is expected in the mobility sector, across energy transitions in industries like steel and chemicals these are the sectors where decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions is especially challenging, and in applications like co-firing at thermal power plants. Japan, meanwhile, boasts a low energy self-sufficiency rate, and renewable energy comprises of just a limited share of total energy consumption. Due to this very reason, it is said that meeting future large-scale demand in terms of green hydrogen entirely via domestic supply is going to be quite a task.
It is worth noting that New Zealand has abundant renewable energy resources, which includes geothermal power along with hydropower, that are indeed necessary for green hydrogen production. With the government also coming up with a policy in order to prioritize the development of its hydrogen industry, New Zealand is all set to become a major leading hub as far as green hydrogen production and supply across the Asia-Pacific region are concerned in the times to come. Besides this, the imports of green hydrogen from New Zealand, which maintains quite robust diplomatic and trade relations with Japan, are also anticipated to make a prominent contribution toward advancing the decarbonization of Japan and also turning its energy security stronger from the viewpoint of putting in place a sustainable energy supply that balances global relations.
Notably, as per the Japan-New Zealand Hydrogen Corridor, studies are going to start in the 2026 fiscal year so as to come up with a hydrogen supply chain that would originate in New Zealand and to help export of green hydrogen right from New Zealand to Japan, with imports as well as exports taking place in the early part of the 2030s. Going forward, the initiative looks forward to making New Zealand a leading green hydrogen supply hub for Japan, hence in a way contributing toward carbon neutrality in Japan and to the creation of a new export industry across New Zealand. As expected, activities are going to be carried forward towards these objectives.