Industrial gas major Linde has said it remains confident in delivering $8bn to $10bn worth of clean energy projects over the next few years, underpinned by blue hydrogen and US 45Q tax credits.
Speaking during the company’s Q1 2025 earnings call, CEO Sanjiv Lamba said Linde was “about halfway through” that near-term pipeline, supported by two major projects currently underway, and despite slower momentum around large-scale green hydrogen.
“We still feel reasonably confident that $8bn to $10bn over three years is something that we are set to get to,” said Lamba. He added that additional project trains and new developments in the Middle East and Europe could provide a further boost.
Linde originally announced a $50bn clean energy opportunity two years ago, as part of a longer-term strategy. But Lamba stressed that near-term activity is focused almost entirely on blue hydrogen, with green hydrogen still five to seven years away from commercial scale.
“In our project pipeline, the vast majority is low-carbon hydrogen. We only pursue green hydrogen where there is very low-cost renewable access,” he said.
Lamba noted that while much attention centres on the US Inflation Reduction Act, it is the earlier-enacted 45Q tax credit (worth $85 per tonne of captured CO2) that is really driving Linde’s current blue hydrogen project economics.
He also said that Linde would continue to approach green hydrogen projects opportunistically, moving forward where renewable electricity is abundant and cheap enough to keep down costs.
“The green hydrogen space still requires significant reductions in capital intensity before it reaches an inflection point,” he said.
He also highlighted that several of Linde’s existing blue hydrogen projects could scale further through the addition of extra trains, while new opportunities in Europe and the Middle East are under active development.
