“The fossil fuel industry doesn’t want to solve the climate crisis—they want to solve their PR crisis.”
As the climate crisis deepens and calls for decarbonization grow louder, fossil fuel corporations have scrambled to rebrand themselves as part of the solution. Their latest marketing ploy? Hydrogen—specifically, blue hydrogen produced from fossil gas.
Touted as a clean fuel of the future, blue hydrogen is being heavily promoted by oil and gas giants who claim it will help us reach net zero. But scratch beneath the surface, and you’ll find a familiar story: pollution, profiteering, and false promises.
Hydrogen is color-coded by source:
A major study from Cornell and Stanford found that blue hydrogen can be worse for the climate than burning coal, largely due to methane leakage and the inefficiencies of carbon capture technology. Yet companies like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and SoCalGas continue to push blue hydrogen as climate-friendly—because it lets them keep drilling gas and building pipelines.
We’ve seen this before. From “clean coal” to carbon capture, the fossil fuel industry has a long history of pushing false solutions that distract from real climate action. Now, they’re at it again.
A recent Utility Dive article reports that industry-aligned groups are lobbying to preserve generous tax credits for blue hydrogen under the federal 45V Hydrogen Production Credit—while pushing to weaken rules that would require hydrogen to be made with renewable power.
It’s a cynical move. These tax credits were meant to jumpstart clean energy—not entrench fossil fuel dominance.
In the name of hydrogen, fossil fuel companies are launching projects that threaten water supplies, sacred lands, and public health—particularly in already overburdened communities.
One example is the Cadiz Hydrogen Project, which proposes to siphon water from California’s Mojave Desert to produce so-called “green” hydrogen. But Cadiz has a long history of trying to extract desert groundwater for profit, and now it’s cloaking its ambitions in a green veneer. As we’ve covered previously, water theft is not climate justice.
Further east, the Saguaro Connector Pipeline is set to carry gas through Indigenous lands in Texas to produce hydrogen for export to Mexico. The Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe has opposed this project, citing desecration of ancestral sites and environmental risks. “It’s a colonial project disguised as clean energy,” said Tribal Chair Juan Mancias.
Hydrogen projects are being greenlit without adequate safeguards, oversight, or community consent—echoing what we warned about in our post on desalination without safeguards.
The Department of Energy is now rolling out $7 billion in hydrogen hub funding across the U.S.—money that could be used to empower frontline communities and build decentralized renewable energy systems. Instead, much of it is flowing to fossil fuel-aligned projects that perpetuate centralized, polluting infrastructure.
This is not just about climate. It’s about control—who profits, who decides, and who pays the price.
True decarbonization won’t come from hydrogen pipelines or desert water grabs. It will come from:
We need to stop pouring public money into corporate scams and start investing in people-first energy systems.
The hydrogen economy being built today is not green. It’s not just. And it’s not inevitable.
We urge policymakers, journalists, and climate advocates to: