Industrial emissions — from steel, cement, chemicals, and refining — account for about 25% of global CO2 output. These sectors share a common trait: they're hard to electrify because they need high-temperature heat or chemical inputs that electricity can't easily provide. Hydrogen is the most viable alternative for many of them.
Steel: direct reduction replaces blast furnaces
The traditional blast furnace uses coke (metallurgical coal) to reduce iron ore to iron. Replacing coke with hydrogen (H-DRI — hydrogen direct reduction of iron) produces chemically reduced iron with water as the byproduct instead of CO2.
Major projects: H2 Green Steel (Sweden), Salzgitter (Germany), ArcelorMittal's Hamilton facility (Canada). US projects in Arizona and the Gulf Coast are in development, often connected to hub initiatives.
Economics currently require either very cheap hydrogen ($2/kg or less delivered) or policy support (carbon pricing, IRA incentives). They're improving.
Ammonia and fertilizer
Global ammonia production is about 180M tons annually, almost entirely from grey or black hydrogen. Displacing that with green or blue hydrogen represents the single largest near-term hydrogen use case.
The conversion is straightforward at existing ammonia plants: upgrade the hydrogen supply. CF Industries and Yara have announced major green ammonia conversion projects. The economics work when hydrogen is below $2/kg and when fertilizer buyers will pay a premium — which some will for ESG reasons.
Refining
Oil refineries use hydrogen for hydrotreating and hydrocracking. Global refinery hydrogen consumption is about 40M tons/year, again almost entirely grey hydrogen. Displacing it is incremental: each refinery already has hydrogen pipelines, storage, and consumption infrastructure. The substitution is at the production end only.
Most major oil companies have at least one green or blue hydrogen project at an owned refinery. BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies each have multiple.
Chemicals and cement
Methanol production is a strong near-term green hydrogen use (similar story to ammonia — existing infrastructure, easy substitution on the hydrogen input side).
Cement is harder. Hydrogen can displace fossil fuels for the high-temperature heat in kiln calcination, but the process CO2 emissions from limestone calcination (about 60% of cement-plant emissions) aren't addressed by hydrogen. CCS is the primary solution there.
The Axis view
Industrial hydrogen applications represent the most credible near-term clean hydrogen use cases. They're large-volume, have existing infrastructure, and have a clear cost-competition benchmark (grey hydrogen) that green/blue can target. Developers with chemical, refining, or steel offtaker relationships have the strongest near-term projects.
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