India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), launched with the ambition of making the country a global hub and exporter, is promoted as a cornerstone of its climate strategy. This article argues that, far from being a genuine solution, the mission constitutes a dangerous mirage that sacrifices water security, environmental justice, and climate integrity for corporate profit. By exempting projects from environmental clearance and fast-tracking them in water-stressed regions, the policy systematically dismantles ecological safeguards under the banner of “ease of business.”
The critique is structured around three fundamental flaws. First, the mission ignores the profound water-energy nexus, revealing that achieving its 2030 production target would consume 150 billion liters of water—a catastrophic redistribution of a scarce resource from citizens to industry in a water-scarce nation. Second, it functions as a sophisticated greenwashing mechanism for the very industries responsible for the current polycrisis. By providing a “green” label to hydrogen used in petroleum refining and fertilizer production, the NGHM offers a public-funded technological patch that allows polluters to claim decarbonization while continuing their core, polluting operations and sidestepping essential detoxification.
Finally, drawing on global experiences from Germany, Australia, and Namibia, the article demonstrates how the green hydrogen push replicates patterns of resource colonialism, leading to land dispossession, ecological damage, and broken promises for frontline communities. The conclusion asserts that true climate justice requires a radical shift from mere decarbonization stunts to comprehensive detoxification. This entails challenging the underlying industrial paradigm and redirecting vast public funds from corporate hydrogen hubs toward healing poisoned lands, securing community water sovereignty, and building decentralized, community-controlled energy systems. The article ultimately calls for a rejection of technological solutions that extend the life of the fossil fuel economy and advocates for a transition that ends this paradigm, rather than finding new ways to fuel it.
