Germany at COP27 announces new funds for hydrogen development

Germany on Tuesday announced two new funds totalling €550 million ($573 million) to boost the development of hydrogen.
Private investments are to be elicited on a much larger scale and will be backed by state funds, Development Minister Svenja Schulze and Economy Ministry official Stefan Wenzel said at the UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
The total investment should eventually reach €2.5 to €5 billion, Wenzel said.
Schulze called hydrogen a "real beacon of hope" and a "key technology" to replace fossil fuels.
The waste product from using hydrogen is water, rather than the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as is the case with fossil fuels. Hydrogen can also be used to store energy.
However, producing hydrogen is very energy intensive, meaning that the development of hydrogen infrastructure needs to be combined with more renewable energy sources in order to reduce the overall climate footprint.
The new funds are to be managed by the KfW development bank.