The Sunday Herald reports that a report commissioned by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) recommends that Britain leave significant research and development in hydrogen and fuel cell technology to countries such as the US, Japan and China.

“You don’t need a seat at the table for everything. Global markets will ensure that good products are developed,” the draft report states. [...]

The DTI report, produced by energy consultants E4tech in December, is sceptical about using renewable energy sources such as wind and wave power to produce hydrogen, and favours using fossil fuels or nuclear energy, which it says are more “cost effective”. [...]

The report sets out the government’s twin aims of reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and improving energy security – the ability to produce the energy required to keep the economy running stable.

It states: “For stationary power and heating applications it is unlikely that hydrogen fuel will provide competitive CO₂ reductions by 2030”.

A spokeswoman for the DTI said the government was committed to tackling climate change and pointed out that hydrogen and fuel cells were still at the research stage. The government response is to be published by the end of the month.

It will be interesting to see the official response—and ideally, the original report.