Japan embraces green hydrogen

Within a few years, trucks in Japan could be running on hydrogen made from renewable energy. The country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry announced in December that it will subsidize efforts by Honda and Toyota Motor to increase their production capacity for fuel cells that convert hydrogen into electricity for powering trucks. The ministry will provide over $90 million to Honda and more than $70 million to Toyota. Like many countries, Japan aspires to become carbon neutral by 2050. It currently relies on imported fossil fuels for most of its energy needs; to reduce Japan’s carbon footprint, the government intends to add cleaner fuels to the mix. After some stumbles, the programs seem to be advancing—though large-scale use of H 2 as a fuel is still a long way off. Hydrogen produced by electrolyzing water with renewable forms of energy is an important part of the government plan. Officials