Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of classifying ammonia as a fuel vector.

Officials are working closely with other departments, such as the Department for Transport, to understand the potential role of ammonia in the UK’s future low carbon economy and how it should be considered within the UK’s policy frameworks.

Low carbon ammonia, as a derivative of low carbon hydrogen, could have the potential to play a role in reaching net zero where it could be used as a chemical feedstock or burned as a fuel in transport or power stations, and could also be stored in large quantities. The Department for Transport’s (DfT) 2019 Clean Maritime Plan sets out the significant role that low carbon ammonia and methanol may play in decarbonising the maritime sector.