What is pink hydrogen, and why are ‘emancipated young Saudi ladies’ keen to make it?

Women in Saudi Arabia are happy to be working on pink hydrogen, the kingdom’s energy minister joked last week.

Abdulaziz bin Salman’s controversial comments were delivered during the World Economic Forum, where he outlined the country’s ambition to be a world leader in hydrogen production.

A spectrum of colours describe the way the gas is extracted - with some much cleaner than others. ‘Pink’ hydrogen uses nuclear power to electrolyse water, thereby splitting hydrogen from oxygen for use as a fuel.

The Saudi royal and politician said that women are particularly pleased to see progress being made in this industry. “We are recruiting, by the way, young Saudi ladies that are happy to see the pink coming along,” bin Salman said. “We have started being very conscious of taking care of our female new recruits and new cadets. We’re becoming an extremely well emancipated society.”

Research by the same organisation he was addressing throws serious doubt on that latter claim. Last year the World Economic Forum’s gender equality index ranked Saudi Arabia 147 out of 156 countries on the global gender gap; with Iceland in first place and Afghanistan last.

Women make up 6.8 per cent of all managerial positions in Saudi society, the wider report found, and there are no female ministers in government. Their average income is just less than a quarter of a man’s. The minister did not explain why women, especially young women, are making pink hydrogen, rather than men of any age.

So how do bin Salman’s energy claims stand up?

Saudi Arabia is the biggest exporter of crude oil in the world, but the Gulf nation is increasingly looking to hydrogen as the fuel of the future.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s calculations, the