BP pulls out of hydrogen project in Northern England

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illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on The Wall Street Journal or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: BP has withdrawn its application to build H2Teesside, a major blue-hydrogen hub planned for northern England, citing a competing and now-approved proposal for a data center on the same land
• The decision ends what was expected to be a 1.2-gigawatt project, equivalent to 10% of the U.K.’s 2030 low-carbon hydrogen target, and follows months of delays in the government’s approval process

🔭 The context: BP announced the project in 2021 as part of its strategy to expand hydrogen and carbon-capture infrastructure across Teesside
• But shifts in local planning priorities, combined with BP’s broader strategic pivot back toward oil and gas, weakened momentum
• The company has recently scaled down several energy-transition projects under investor pressure, even as the U.K. seeks to accelerate domestic hydrogen capacity

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The cancellation removes a sizeable portion of the U.K.’s planned low-carbon hydrogen supply, potentially slowing industrial decarbonisation in a region heavily reliant on carbon-intensive processes
• Blue hydrogen paired with carbon capture can reduce emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, though environmental groups highlight concerns about methane leakage and long-term storage integrity
• Losing a large-scale project may shift regional investment toward data-center development, which carries its own energy and water-use impacts unless powered by clean sources

⏭️ What’s next: The U.K. government must now determine how to close the hydrogen supply gap as it approaches its 2030 targets
• BP says it will continue advancing other Teesside projects, including Net Zero Teesside Power and the Northern Endurance Partnership CO₂-storage network
• Spotlight is expected to shift to the potential of data-center proposal to align with regional decarbonisation plans 

💬 One quote: “Material changes in circumstances on the Teesworks site… mean we have taken the decision not to progress H2Teesside,” — BP statement

📈 One stat: H2Teesside was slated to deliver 1.2 GW of blue hydrogen — representing one-tenth of the U.K.’s national 2030 goal

See on illuminem’s Data Hub™ the sustainability performance of BP, and its peers like Shell, and Equinor

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