Australian community attitudes towards hydrogen

Research shows us that overall, Australians are cautiously optimistic about hydrogen.

Since the first national survey of hydrogen perceptions in 2018, awareness of hydrogen and its uses have increased, however, firm opinions will be shaped based on particular technologies, applications, and projects (UQ 2021).

During our own research (forthcoming Newton, Rotman, Webber 2024), we found that neutral (44%) and positive opinions (48%) towards renewable hydrogen make up most of the population. Views that community members hold about hydrogen use and production, however, are complex.

Factors such as the following influence positive attitudes:

• Location matters: for hydrogen production facilities there are more positive opinions for industrial land compared to farmland or bushland.
• Ownership affects trust: higher trust was reported for Australia, community and renewable energy companies where as oil/gas were less trusted and foreign owned companies were trusted the least.
• Export preferences: most want green hydrogen to remain mainly onshore (76% want all or most of the renewable hydrogen to remain onshore)

The key issues that Australians view as important when considering hydrogen are:

Environmental impacts

The environmental potential for ‘clean energy’ was expressed as the most important benefit for developing hydrogen technologies. Given this perceived benefit, Australians also had a preference for hydrogen to be produced renewably (UQ 2021, p10).

Regional and urban divide

In general, urban communities hold more favourable views toward hydrogen technology than regional respondents. This applies to overall attitudes and support for hydrogen development as well as backing for hydrogen’s three main applications (transport; industrial use; domestic use).

Politicisation

The level of support of hydrogen is not currently affected by political affiliation, and currently the building of social licence is unlikely to be undermined by political polarisation.

Safety

Hydrogen is seen as safer than many current energy sources, with only 39% of respondents feeling hydrogen energy was less safe than other fuels.

In contrast, many respondents felt that many of the current energy sources were less safe than the alternatives. This includes natural gas (60%), coal (81%), and petrol (83%), while greener energy sources, (solar 8%; wind 12%) were less likely to be perceived as unsafe.

Benefits

Compared to all the potential alternatives in the current energy landscape, respondents felt that hydrogen energy had more benefits to offer.

An impressive 92% of respondents categorised hydrogen energy as having more benefits compared to other energy sources. The key benefit of hydrogen for communities is perceived to be its role as a new form of clean energy.

_{© Josh Newton, reproduced with permission.}

Trust in organisations

Trust in organisations to act in a community’s best interest was tested in the University of Queensland survey, which found CSIRO, Universities and Environmental Non-Government Organisations as most trusted, whereas gas and fuel companies and the media were least trusted.

Your task

Think about the regional and urban divide in terms of hydrogen views – why do you think this exists? Add your thoughts in the comments below.

References

_{The Australian public’s perception of hydrogen for energy – Technical Appendices (2018)}

_{Martin, Victoria, Ashworth, Peta, Petrova, Svetla, Wade, Belinda, and Witt, Kathy (2021). Public perceptions of hydrogen: 2021 National Survey results. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Future Fuels CRC.}

_{Weber, V, Rotman, J, Newton, J (2021) Social licence for hydrogen}