Certification of Low-Carbon Hydrogen Production – Detailed Explanation With Case Laws

1. Meaning

Certification of Low-Carbon Hydrogen Production means the legal and technical process used to verify that hydrogen has been produced with emissions below a specified carbon-intensity threshold.

Hydrogen is not itself a primary energy source. Its environmental impact depends largely on how it is produced.

For example:

Grey hydrogen is generally produced from natural gas without capturing the resulting CO₂.

Blue hydrogen generally uses fossil fuels with carbon capture.

Green hydrogen is generally produced through electrolysis using renewable electricity.

However, colour labels alone are not sufficient for legal certification. A proper certification system should measure the actual greenhouse-gas emissions associated with hydrogen production.

2. Why Certification Is Necessary

Hydrogen can be marketed as “clean” or “low-carbon” even when its actual emissions are significant.

Certification therefore protects:

consumers;

investors;

governments;

hydrogen purchasers;

carbon markets; and

environmental integrity.

Without reliable certification, there is a risk of greenwashing.

A certification system should answer:

How much hydrogen was produced, how was it produced, how much greenhouse gas was emitted, and can those claims be independently verified?

3. Carbon-Intensity Threshold

The foundation of certification is normally a carbon-intensity threshold.

Carbon intensity can be expressed as:

kg CO₂-equivalent per kg of hydrogen produced.

The calculation may include emissions from:

electricity generation;

natural-gas extraction;

hydrogen production;

methane leakage;

transportation;

carbon capture;

processing; and

other relevant upstream activities.

The precise boundary must be legally defined.

For example, a regulator must decide whether certification measures only the hydrogen plant or the whole lifecycle.

4. Lifecycle Emissions

Lifecycle accounting is particularly important.

Suppose hydrogen is produced using natural gas with carbon capture.

The system may capture CO₂ at the hydrogen facility, but upstream methane leakage during natural-gas extraction can still create significant climate impacts.

Therefore, certification should consider:

upstream emissions + production emissions + processing + transport + captured and uncaptured CO₂.

This prevents a producer from obtaining a low-carbon certificate simply by ignoring emissions occurring elsewhere in the supply chain.

5. Renewable Electricity and Green Hydrogen

Where hydrogen is produced through electrolysis, certification must determine whether the electricity used is genuinely low-carbon.

Important questions include:

Is the electricity renewable?

Was it generated at the same time as the hydrogen production?

Was it generated in the same geographical region?

Was it purchased through a recognised certificate?

Does the electricity claim overlap with another environmental claim?

These questions are important because the same renewable electricity should not be used to claim multiple environmental benefits.

6. Certification and Measurement

A reliable system requires measurement, reporting and verification (MRV).

The producer should maintain records concerning:

electricity consumption;

hydrogen output;

feedstock;

natural-gas consumption;

carbon capture;

CO₂ transport;

methane emissions where relevant; and

operating periods.

Independent verification bodies can then examine the records.

The certificate should contain a traceable record showing:

production → measurement → verification → certification → transfer → retirement.

7. South African Legal Framework

South Africa does not yet have one comprehensive hydrogen-certification statute covering every form of low-carbon hydrogen.

Certification may therefore interact with several existing legal frameworks, including:

National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA);

Electricity Regulation Act 4 of 2006;

Carbon Tax Act 15 of 2019;

Climate Change Act 22 of 2024;

National Water Act 36 of 1998, where water use is involved; and

environmental authorisation and air-quality requirements.

Hydrogen projects may therefore require several approvals rather than one single “hydrogen licence.”

8. Environmental Authorisation

Large hydrogen projects can have substantial environmental impacts.

They may involve:

electricity generation;

desalination;

large-scale water use;

pipelines;

renewable-energy facilities;

chemical processing;

ports; and

storage infrastructure.

The Fuel Retailers Association of Southern Africa v Director-General: Environmental Management, Mpumalanga case is important because the Constitutional Court emphasised integrated consideration of environmental and socio-economic factors.

Similarly, Maccsand (Pty) Ltd v City of Cape Town demonstrates that obtaining one regulatory authorisation does not necessarily remove the need to comply with other independent regulatory regimes.

These principles are particularly relevant to hydrogen projects involving multiple components.

9. Climate-Change Assessment

Hydrogen certification must also consider climate consequences.

In Earthlife Africa Johannesburg v Minister of Environmental Affairs, the court recognised the relevance of climate-change impacts in environmental decision-making concerning major energy infrastructure.

Although this was not a hydrogen-certification case, it provides an important principle:

Climate impacts should be properly considered when authorities make significant energy-related decisions.

A hydrogen-certification framework should therefore use scientifically credible emissions accounting.

10. Carbon Capture and Blue Hydrogen

For blue hydrogen, certification becomes more complex.

The producer may claim:

“Most of the CO₂ has been captured.”

The regulator must then verify:

the amount of CO₂ generated;

the amount captured;

capture efficiency;

transport losses;

storage permanence; and

monitoring results.

A certificate should not be issued merely because a producer has installed carbon-capture equipment.

The actual emissions performance should determine certification.

11. Administrative Law and Certification

Certification decisions may involve public authorities or authorised certification bodies.

The principles in Affordable Medicines Trust v Minister of Health are relevant to properly structured regulatory discretion.

Democratic Alliance v President of South Africa is also relevant to the requirement that public decisions must be rational.

Accordingly, certification rules should establish:

objective eligibility criteria;

transparent methodology;

consistent verification;

reasons for refusal;

appeal or review procedures; and

protection against arbitrary decisions.

12. International Development

Internationally, hydrogen certification is becoming increasingly important because hydrogen may be traded across borders.

The European Union has developed rules for renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, including lifecycle greenhouse-gas accounting and sustainability requirements.

International certification systems are important because buyers may require proof that imported hydrogen satisfies particular carbon-intensity standards.

Cross-border recognition therefore requires compatible:

carbon accounting;

verification;

registries;

chain-of-custody systems; and

sustainability standards.

13. Preventing Double Counting

Certification must also prevent the same environmental benefit from being claimed twice.

For example:

1 MWh renewable electricity → hydrogen production → renewable certificate → hydrogen certificate.

The legal system must clarify which environmental attributes belong to which instrument.

Otherwise, a producer might claim both renewable-electricity benefits and low-carbon-hydrogen benefits for the same underlying environmental attribute without proper accounting.

14. Conclusion

Certification of Low-Carbon Hydrogen Production is a system for proving that hydrogen meets a defined greenhouse-gas performance standard.

A strong framework should contain:

clear carbon threshold → lifecycle accounting → reliable measurement → independent verification → traceability → renewable-electricity rules → methane accounting → carbon-capture verification → anti-double-counting rules → enforcement.

South African cases such as Fuel Retailers Association, Maccsand, Earthlife Africa, Affordable Medicines Trust, and Democratic Alliance v President provide useful principles, although they are largely analogical authorities rather than direct low-carbon-hydrogen certification cases.

The central legal principle is that “low-carbon” should be an evidence-based legal status, not merely a marketing description. Certification should therefore connect hydrogen production to measurable emissions, independent verification and transparent regulatory standards. This creates confidence for investors and consumers while helping ensure that hydrogen development genuinely contributes to South Africa's long-term energy-transition and climate objectives.

Available next action: Create a downloadable PDF file here in this chat containing the findings and recommendations above