Welcome to the August edition of the Circular Digest.
This month I'm excited to introduce a 3 part series, written by Meghan Fitzpatrick. This month's deep dive is the first where green hydrogen will be discussed as a circular solution to our current reliance on fossil fuels. ⬇️
Circular Roundup
Policy: The 6th round of negotiations for the UN Global Plastics Treaty occurred this week. The latest draft text did not include global obligations. Instead it allows countries to manage, reduce or restrict plastic products that aren't recyclable, contain intentionally added microplastics or disrupt the circular economy and are not designed to be recyclable, durable, reusable or repairable taking into account its national circumstances and capabilities. This is a reduction in ambition and can lead to a fragmented landscape driving increased complexity for business. Voluntary and fragmented action is not enough. The negotiations ended without an agreement and they will continue at INC5.3.
Source: Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty
Strategy: The Italian competition authority (AGCM) has fined SHEIN for greenwashing. Claims about circularity and green fibres lacked scientific backing, while its stated 25% GHG reduction target clashed with rising emissions in 2023–24. The bar is rising for credible sustainability claims. Claims must be based on scientific, data-driven evidence and due diligence carried out to identify impacts that could undermine or contradict claims. Strategic alignment between targets, data, and traceability is no longer optional, it’s a legal and reputational necessity.
Policy: European Commission launches public consultation for the Circular Economy Act. This will enable the Commission to gather input from a wide range of stakeholders and broader public, to better understand the bottlenecks and opportunities for the circular economy. Due for adoption in 2026, this Act aims to establish a Single Market for secondary raw materials, increase the supply of high-quality recycled materials and stimulate demand for these materials in the EU to increase economic resilience, competitiveness and decarbonisation.
Research: New research has demonstrated that plastic production has increased by more than x200 since 1950, endangering people and the planet at every stage. More than 16,000 chemicals are used in plastics, including fillers, dyes, flame retardants and stabilisers. These chemicals were linked to health effects at all stages of human life and estimates of the health damage from just three plastic chemicals – PBDE, BPA and DEHP – in 38 countries was $1.5tn a year.
Policy: I am in Malta for a holiday and they have a Beverage Container Refund Scheme aka a Deposit Return Scheme! You pay a 10¢ deposit when you buy single-use beverages. You can return these bottles OTC in shops or to Return Vending Machines (RVMs) which are located in public places. You can return plastic, steel, aluminium or glass beverage bottles or cans between 0.1-3L. This covers most kinds of drinks except from wine, spirits and juices. Once you return your containers, you get a voucher to get money off your next shop. Deposit Return Schemes increase recycling rates, increase recycling quality through separate collection, reduce littering and increases public awareness of the circular economy!
Any time I go to a country with a DRS I force my partner to take a photo of me using it 😂
Action This 💡
Last month we talked about how to identify and prioritise suppliers for engagement. The next step is to engage them! Engagement can take many forms, financial and non-financial. Collaboration is a key type of engagement to progress the circular economy. For example, collaboration to pilot and scale reuse models or reverse logistics systems. Capacity building is also critical, such as resources, training or support. Financial engagement can take the form of incentives for linking environmental commitments to long-term contracts or providing financial incentives for using recycled, reusable or regenerative materials.
The principles of a circular economy simply don’t exist in a world where fossil fuels dominate. The world needs a cleaner, more sustainable energy system. In our transition to a low-carbon society, renewable energy will be our lifeline. Although renewable technologies like solar and wind have gained momentum in recent years, they still face storage issues that need to be addressed. One solution to the issue of storage, and also a solution to decarbonising hard-to-abate industries, is green hydrogen. Green hydrogen at its core is produced through electrolysis powered by renewable energy. In choosing to abandon fossil fuels, green hydrogen production offers a circular economy solution in the creation of a clean energy carrier. Green hydrogen represents an enabler of systemic change from our current dirty fossil-reliant society, moving towards a circular economy.
In recent years hydrogen has gained the impressive title as our silver bullet in helping to tackle climate change - with some calling it a zero-emissions fuel source. However, as soon as you dig a little deeper, it is clear the picture is a lot more complicated. Although at point of use hydrogen is a zero emission fuel, producing it is a different story - a story defined by how the hydrogen is made.
How is Hydrogen Made?
Hydrogen is easily the most abundant element in the universe and it is an energy carrier which means it can be used to transport energy from one place to another. However, hydrogen is found on Earth mostly in compound form attached to other elements, e.g. H₂0 (water), NH₃ (ammonia), and CH₄ (methane - a hydrocarbon compound). Therefore to use hydrogen, we need to separate it from its original compound form. There are various ways to do this, but all require large amounts of energy to do so.
Because hydrogen can come from various source compounds, and we can use various methods to split it from its compound state, there are various forms of hydrogen we can produce. To demonstrate this we can look to the hydrogen rainbow - where the colour of hydrogen is defined by the two above factors.
Looking from the outside of the rainbow in, we move from higher emission - where fossil fuels are used in production - to lower emission hydrogen which relies on electricity. Note: White hydrogen in the centre is naturally occurring, but there are currently no strategies to utilize this form of hydrogen at present.
Black and brown hydrogen are produced through gasification, where coal is mixed with hot steam or air. Unsurprisingly, coal-based hydrogen production methods are the highest emitting as they release both CO₂ and unburnt fugitive methane. Methane (CH₄ - fossil gas) is the source of grey, blue and turquoise hydrogen. Grey and blue hydrogen can either come as a natural byproduct of oil refining or intentionally through steam methane reformation (SMR), where heat and pressure convert methane into hydrogen and CO₂. Despite its somewhat natural look, blue hydrogen, blue hydrogen is simply grey hydrogen where CCUS technology is applied to capture the CO₂ released. While it is less emitting than its grey counterpart, blue hydrogen is definitely not as “clean” as some may lead us to believe. Despite claims from the Oil and Gas industry that 80-90% of CO₂ can be captured, a 2021 study from Cornell University estimates the number is closer to 12%. Turquoise hydrogen, a more recent addition, is produced through methane pyrolysis which produces hydrogen and solid carbon as byproducts. The green credentials of turquoise hydrogen are therefore dependent on the energy source fuelling the pyrolysis (fossil or electricity based) and whether the carbon is permanently stored or used.
This infographic outlines how each colour of hydrogen is made. The left column indicates the energy source used, the middle column indicates the production method and the left column is the corresponding colour of hydrogen. Source: Primerli, 2024.
Around 96% of global hydrogen production is powered by fossil fuels - with grey hydrogen making up 95% - while the remaining 4% is produced by electrolysis using renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This process is called Power-to-X (P2X energy), where the ‘X’ created is an energy carrier which can be used as a fuel source. In this process, as long as the electricity used is from a renewable source, no CO₂ is produced at either the point of generation or combustion.
So now that we know what all the colours mean, how do we translate this into real world production?
The above tells us that really the only truly sustainable and circular form of hydrogen is that produced using renewables, such as green hydrogen.
However, when you think about the amount of energy required to make hydrogen through electrolysis, something doesn’t quite add up. It has been said that it takes more energy to produce hydrogen, than hydrogen actually provides when it is converted to energy. The process is also very expensive - a 2025 study estimated that green hydrogen costs $2.28-7.39/kg, while grey hydrogen costs $0.67-1.31/kg. But of course the latter does generate 8.5kg CO₂ per kg of hydrogen produced. So if green hydrogen is expensive, and energy inefficient to produce, why is it being described as our silver bullet?
The following infographic is called the “hydrogen merit ladder”. It was devised by Michael Leibreich to outline when green hydrogen should be used and for what purposes.
The key take home is that if direct electrification is possible, hydrogen should not be the answer. But in cases where this is not possible, green hydrogen could provide a solution which will greatly lower global emissions.
The key message of the ladder according to Liebreich,
“There are better and worse use cases for hydrogen; in the majority of cases there are cheaper, safer and more convenient zero-carbon alternatives… since we should expect clean hydrogen supply to be limited for many decades, we should focus our efforts and public money on use cases on the top rows of the ladder”.
The top rung of the ladder shows use cases where swapping fossil-based grey, black, brown and blue hydrogen - i.e. fertilisers - is “unavoidable”. This means that for these processes which are heavily reliant on fossil energy, there is no other alternative than green hydrogen. Moving through the ladder into rows B and C, we see some opportunity for a blend of hydrogen and electricity/batteries and biogas. Moving down the ladder we move into the “uncompetitive” use cases for hydrogen. Where current suggestions of its use make no sense when you look at the energy cost of its production, i.e. commercial and domestic heating and urban transport.
The current carbon footprint of global hydrogen production equates to 2% of global GHG emissions, which tells us there is an immediate need to swap out the dirty hydrogen for cleaner alternatives. The next two articles in the series will be a deep dive into two sectoral use cases for green hydrogen - aviation and shipping.
Meghan has an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences and a postgraduate in Climate Change from King's College London. She has professional experience in the non-profit sector, working at CDP for two years. She is an experienced sustainability data analyst, and has worked with companies to ensure progress in their transition to a low-carbon world. Meghan worked as an assessor in CDP's ACT team - Assessing the Low-Carbon Transition - assessing the highest emitting companies in sectors such as Oil and Gas, and Electric Utilities. Meghan has experience in science research. Following on from her MSc at KCL, Meghan is conducting ongoing research with the KCL Geography department assessing the carbon storage potential of Ombrotrophic peat bogs. Meghan is a skilled science communicator and has previously worked with the EU Commission on city sustainability projects, including the European Green Capital and Green Leaf Awards. Meghan has a keen interest in circular economy policy, as well as renewable energy policy and plastic pollution.
From Plastic Waste to Green Hydrogen and Valuable Chemicals Using Sunlight and Water - Read this scientific article on an innovative process called photoreforming. This approach has the capacity to convert plastic waste into high-value chemicals and generate hydrogen (H2) through water splitting under ambient conditions.
What did you think of this edition of Circular Digest? If you have any thoughts, questions, or ideas for future content, reply to this email. 😊
See you next month!
Kayleigh
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