US President Joe Biden entered the White House with the pipeline already nearly finished, leaving him with the decision of upsetting Germany or giving a win to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Transmission grid firms have presented plans to the regulator to invest up to 102 billion euros ($124.56 billion) up to 2030, of which 55 billion will go into high-voltage networks and 47 billion into local distribution grids.

Green hydrogen is produced from renewable energy, while blue hydrogen is derived from fossil fuels with carbon capture, utilization and storage.

Until now, Germany had targeted net-zero emissions by 2050. It has now committed to becoming carbon-negative by that date, meaning taking more carbon out of the atmosphere than it puts in.

Pumped hydro energy storage constitutes 99% of global storage energy.

Germany will now aim for a 65% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2045, up from a previous 55% for 2030 and net zero by 2050.

Currently, renewables form 10% of India’s total power generation and that share will increase to 31% by 2030 with 450GW coming online.

The government has said it will grant a total of 5 billion euros in subsidies in 2021 for technologies that will help it achieve its climate goals.

The gist of the technical case for CCS in a hydrogen economy is that, so long as fossil fuels are available and deliver a high energy return on energy invested (EROEI), it is inherently cheaper and more efficient to produce hydrogen from fossil fuels by reforming, rather than by electrolysis of water.

According to preliminary data released by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Germany’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decreased by 8.7% in 2020 to 739 MtCO2eq, corresponding to a 40.8% fall since 1990.