Researchers from Cornell and Stanford universities determined blue hydrogen with carbon capture has “no role in a carbon-free future” — and can actually be up to 20% worse than burning gas or coal to produce heat, according to Recharge.

The researchers’ landmark study concluded blue hydrogen’s lifecycle greenhouse gases footprint debunks any notion that it represents an emissions-free or even low-emissions option. It cited the large amounts of natural gas needed to fuel the process itself and the escape of “fugitive methane” from wells and other equipment along the supply chain.

Furthermore, the study published on Thursday in Energy Science and Engineering put the CO2 emissions profile of blue hydrogen as barely superior to grey hydrogen made using unabated gas that it is supposed to replace.

Learn more: Recharge > Blue hydrogen ‘worse than gas for the climate’: landmark study’s damning verdict