An intriguing launch this afternoon of 'The forgotten force in the fight against climate change' paper today with plenty of opportunity for manufacturing and industrial production for the UK

Former Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, was eloquent and forceful, stating:

'We need to be leaders ourselves, particularly taken by the thought we should match up in hydrogen area, the department at the centre of battery technology. rail is something like pushed heavily. We're never going to electrify the whole rail network it's complete waste of money. Electrification works well in some places. It does not work well on 65 mph branch lines and never will and it is entirely sensible to get hydrogen trains optimised apart from our network.

There are already nearly there. There are problems or hiccups on the way, but there are hydrogen powered trains ready to run initially on our network and they need to grow'

In the next few years if we're going to get rich and ambition to phase out diesel from the The rail network in the 2030s with these hydrogen alongside electric trains To deliver for us, this will bring on the best There's a lot of research taking place in verses in our country.

The challenge with hydrogen in maritime and the challenge with hydrogen in aviation is simple. It takes up an order space. There is great work taking place in the aviation sector. Airbus are doing good work I'm pretty confident that by the time we get to 2035.

The panel agreed that the UK's innovative base could combine with commercial success going forwards. The paper itself:

As for manufacturing, we heard that the UK are over dependent on China particularly, 'that's not healthy for any of us. So we are keen to see manufacturing UK we all know the cost pressure issues that exist in our manufacturing. I suspect that will change as time goes by.'

Perhaps mindful of the recent high profile resignation over the Blue - Green hydrogen debate within the organisation, Chris Grayling and fellow panellists sere keen to stress the opportunity for green hydrogen.

The strategy set out the need for hydrogen, this, the sister paper, the need for the 'hardware' necessary to see its successful implementation with fuel cells crucial and, in effect, electrolysers in reverse:

It's already beginning to change. We are beginning to see significant expansion of battery manufacturing capabilities of the manufacturers in this country. There's no reason why that can't happen. Shipping, the gas grid and heavy road transport along with associated supply chains were singled out as especially important by the panel, with local delivery instrumental in shaping the future direction of both the UK hydrogen and sister Fuel Cell industries.