more skeptically, given that green hydrogen remains a pipe dream, it's both a useful delaying tactic for switching to electricity and furthering investment in fossil fuels, which must stay in the ground if we are to have any hope of staying below 1.5c.
Natural gas already contains hydrogen. Up to 20% of hydrogen in natural gas doesn't sound all that dangerous. The article you linked says "if a hydrogen economy replaced the fossil fuel-based energy system and had a leakage rate of 1%, its climate impact would be 0.6% of the fossil fuel system.". So the climate impact would be 100 times smaller(?)
Yes there are many delaying tactic for switching to electricity (the promise of "synthetic fuel" for example, to power existing gas cars). But using hydrogen to replace fossil fuels is needed anyway, for example for ammonia production and steel manufacturing. So I don't understand why you think hydrogen will delay the switch to electricity.
https://theconversation.com/dont-rush-into-a-hydrogen-econom...
https://agage.mit.edu/publications/global-environmental-impa...
more skeptically, given that green hydrogen remains a pipe dream, it's both a useful delaying tactic for switching to electricity and furthering investment in fossil fuels, which must stay in the ground if we are to have any hope of staying below 1.5c.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/new-fossil-fuels-incompatible-wi...