With green hydrogen priced at $1 a kg, India hopes to spur clean energy use

India plans to slash the production costs of green hydrogen to $1 a kilogram from $5-$6 currently to encourage industries to use cleaner energy and wants access to cheaper loans to hep fund that transition, a senior government official said.

The world’s third-largest carbon emitter put out a roadmap in February to become a hub for the production and export of green hydrogen — made from water and renewable electricity, though the fuel is a long way from being commercially viable.

“Unless cheap finance is available to be able to rapidly enhance both renewable and non-renewable, this transition will be difficult to speed up for a long period of time,” said Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer of the government’s think tank Niti Aayog, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Finances at low costs are critical.”