The world’s first digger powered by a hydrogen combustion engine will soon be on UK roads and building sites following recent approval by the UK government.

JCB, the company behind the digger, claims it could help decarbonise the construction industry. Around 25 per cent of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from the sector.

Commenting on the news, JCB’s chairman Lord Bamford, said: JCB’s hydrogen-powered backhoe loader is a world first in our industry, a digger with a purpose-engineered internal combustion engine that uses hydrogen gas as the energy source.”

He added: “It’s a real breakthrough – a zero CO2 fuel providing the power to drive the pistons in an internal combustion engine, a technology that’s been around for over 100 years, a technology that we are all familiar with."

The government has also announced a new certification scheme to verify the sustainability of low carbon hydrogen.

There is currently no way for manufacturers to prove the low carbon content of their products.

The scheme, which aims to build transparency and confidence across the sector, will be introduced by 2025.

The UK government has set a target for up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, with at least half of this from electrolytic hydrogen.

Commenting on the scheme Graham Stuart, department for energy security and net zero minister said: “Consumers and businesses care about investing sustainably. Thanks to this new scheme, investors and producers will be able to confidently identify and invest in trusted, high-quality British sources of low carbon hydrogen, both home and abroad.”

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