The unveiling of Northern Ireland’s first hydrogen-powered buses at Stormont is an important first step towards reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, but there is more still to do, writes Mark Stockdale, Partner, A&L Goodbody.

The buses will use green hydrogen, which is made using spare electricity from wind farms which would otherwise go to waste. This novel approach has not been used anywhere else on the island of Ireland and is truly a glimpse into what the future has to offer. For this reason, we were pleased to work with Energia to deliver this project and we hope that it will become more common as NI develops its new hydrogen economy.

Of course, hydrogen is only one small part of the overall move towards Net Zero. The recent letter from the Climate Change Committee to Edwin Poots MLA made it clear that based on current projections Northern Ireland would not get to Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The British and Irish governments have both made ambitious statements about cutting greenhouse gases and have put in place the right support to make this happen.

Whilst Northern Ireland still lags behind to some degree, with no support for renewables and no firm policy for cutting emissions, there is a clear global trajectory towards fighting climate change and cutting emissions.

Northern Ireland most now continue to move quickly to capitalise on its advantage in hydrogen transport before it is overtaken.