My ears pricked up during last week’s discussion on the hydrogen economy when the event’s keynote speaker said South Africa dare not lose the market share that platinum group metals have in the global automotive industry. Why South Africa has the role of keeping the air of the world’s biggest cities free of car exhaust fumes is because our platinum group metals keep them out.
But that role is unravelling because incoming battery electric vehicles do not emit exhaust fumes and therefore no longer need platinum. All is not lost, though, because alternative fuel cell, electrolyser, industrial and even medical markets are emerging, but not with the single far-reaching force that we have become used to.
What needs to happen to lower the risk of major job loss is to go headlong into green hydrogen at home and abroad, as is happening in America, Europe, Japan, South Korea and to a considerable extent Australia as well. Doing so will enable significant new job creation, reduce carbon emissions, support social change, and drive economic development.
We do have Project Rainbow, which is designed to build a hydrogen freight corridor for trucks and buses, and the country should unite behind that, and also look to localised manufacture and vehicle assembly to support local supply chain development.