Commodities trading company Trafigura has accelerated its investments in green hydrogen over the past year as part of its efforts to decarbonise its operations, according to the firm’s 2021 sustainability report.

In January 2021, the firm pledged to reduce operational scope one and two greenhouse gas emissions by 30pc below 2020 levels by the end of 2023, and to invest in new technologies.

As part of this effort Trafigura has pledged to invest $62mn into Switzerland-based H2 Energy to develop the production, storage and distribution of green hydrogen for refuelling stations and industrial customers.

30pc – Amount by which Trafigura has pledged to reduce operational emissions by 2024

Some $20mn is a capital investment while the remaining $42mn will seed and fund the development of a 50/50 joint venture that will invest in hydrogen infrastructure and application projects across Europe.

The venture will build a 1GW green hydrogen production facility in Esbjerg, Denmark, with the aim of supplying the Danish trucking market. The plant has a targeted operational date of 2024-2025.

Wide investment portfolio

Trafigura has also invested in Hy2gen, a German-based developer of green hydrogen production facilities with a project pipeline of over 500MW of electrolyser capacity.

Hy2gen is working with Trafigura and Copenhagen Investment Partners to establish a project in Sauda, Norway, that will generate green hydrogen from hydropower and use it to produce green ammonia.

Trafigura and Hy2gen have also worked together on a study to quantify the green ammonia needs of the shipping industry.

At Cop26, Trafigura announced its commitment to convert six vessels—18pc of its owned fleet—to use zero-emissions fuels by 2030.

“This is subject to the availability of technology, which we are co-sponsoring with Man Energy Solutions, to develop a green ammonia two-stroke maritime engine by 2024 for newbuilds and for retrofitting by 2025,” says Trafigura CEO Jeremy Weir.

The firm has also invested in OneH2, a provider of scalable hydrogen fuel production systems in North America focused on the forklift truck market.

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Author: Tom Young