Major Report Release – Public Perceptions of Hydrogen in Australia

In August 2021, the Future Fuels Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) released an important research report, Public Perceptions of Hydrogen – 2021 National Survey Results, that aims to further our understanding of how the public responds to the potential of hydrogen and its uses. Such an understanding is highly beneficial to inform both government and industry actions to help ensure a social licence to operate for hydrogen is achieved.

There is considerable interest in clean hydrogen globally and in Australia as a key element in decarbonising energy systems.  Producing clean hydrogen at scale presents a number of key challenges, including social license. This report details the findings of a recent national survey of the Australian public (of over 3,000 sample respondents) to understand their response to hydrogen as a future energy source, its use in domestic applications as well as considerations for its production and export.

The report summary (including of the survey process followed), major conclusions, implications and recommendations for industry, and key statistics and findings is at pages 8-11.

This present survey builds on earlier 2018 research conducted on behalf of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) that helped inform development of Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy.

This Features article was prepared by Peter Grubnic: peter.grubnic@futurefuelscrc.com.