The country already boasts one of the most developed wind power sectors globally – the energy can be used to produce carbon-neutral ‘green’ hydrogen, which is produced by splitting water via electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen. It also has access to considerable supplies of oil and gas in the North Sea. This can be used to make ‘blue’ hydrogen, which is not carbon neutral.

The Hydrogen Backbone Link (HBL) project, proposed by the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), would connect Scotland’s east coast with Emden in Germany to deliver a direct link to a growing European market for hydrogen. It is estimated to cost around £2.7bn to build and has already received some initial funding from the Scottish government’s Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) and match funding from industry.

The body said the pipeline would achieve “favourable economics” when compared to other global sources. While production costs would be higher in Scotland than...