Hydrogen is a key element of our everyday life. It is an irreplaceable feedstock for the production of fertilisers, fuels, and chemicals. From a scientific point of view, hydrogen can additionally play a major role in future energy systems and help to decarbonise the sectors industry, heat and power generation as well as transport and mobility. Thus, it can contribute to the energy transition and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at a large scale and consequently help to mitigate climate change. It is, therefore, a key building block to reach the remarkably challenging goals recently stated in the European Green Deal. Therefore, the overarching question is whether hydrogen can measure up to the great expectations raised and how creating public awareness and education can contribute in achieving a social license to operate for emerging new technological developments in this context. Education is not solely an instrument for academic excellence but also a powerful tool to raise public awareness with regard to the development of new technologies. While the main goal of the pyrolysis project is to research sustainable means of hydrogen production, the project also considers its role within the community as a positive side effect. To safeguard and promote the scientific social licence to operate, an educational programme will be additionally developed to raise civic awareness and grant access to the developments made in the project in a learning lab, which will have open access for schools and the general public.

Keywords: Hydrogen, Pyrolysis, Awareness raising, Sustainability, Education