Dr Martin Hanton

Dr Martin Hanton

Green Energy and Sustainability Director, TÜV SÜD Northern Europe

Tell us about yourself 

After studying chemistry at undergraduate level, I did a PhD in catalysis chemistry, before joining a large petrochemical company where I worked on developing new catalytic processes for refining and commodity chemicals, and making existing ones more efficient. A highlight was winning the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Young Industrialist Award in 2011 for my work in this field, and seeing a process I worked on over a prolonged period commercialised at petrochemical plant scale. Over time my work expanded from just research into IP and economic analysis, and I took on increasing management responsibility. So I undertook an MBA (with a specialism in innovation management), to more formally expand my skill set into business and management.

Where do you work?

These days I mostly work from home, as a I lead a team of people based across the UK and northern Europe. I visit both of our main UK office locations and travel quite a bit to trade shows, customer meetings and corporate events. So, I still get out quite a bit!

What are your main areas of expertise?

Chemistry, chemical engineering, hydrogen, carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS), sustainability.

What does your role involve?

My role is mainly focused on four things: understanding our customers and the market which includes keeping up with government policy and regulation; growing our team and helping them to develop; setting our business unit strategy and developing a plan to implement it; and interfacing with the wider organisation to develop and deliver services for customers. I don’t really get to do technical work any more (which I do miss), but given my technical background and experience, I hope it allows me to be a good manager of technical teams due to my understanding of what they do. I really believe good managers should understand what they are managing.

What most interests you about your role?

Greenwashing is a well-known term, but there is generally a lack of appreciation for just how widespread and normalised it has become. This is a major problem if we are to achieve climate change targets whilst also moving to a society that consumes responsibly. At the core of everything TÜV SÜD does in the green energy and sustainability space, is providing trust and integrity in green and sustainability claims. Our role is essentially to prevent greenwashing, and hence make sure that the transition to clean energy and sustainable society really happens – because it needs to. This is what excites me about what our team does!

What exciting developments have you seen at TÜV SÜD since you started?

Developments in internal collaborations over the past few years have enabled us to better leverage our many experts across the global organisation which helps with knowledge transfer among colleagues and improves our customer experience.

TÜV SÜD has also seriously committed to sustainability, in terms of how we act as an organisation and the services we deliver to the market. Many existing services have been adapted and many new ones continue to be developed as the needs of our customers evolve.

What future trends do you see developing in your area of work?

An increasing trend of regulations and standards related to clean energy and sustainability – at present there is just too much that is optional, but slowly governments around the world are bringing in legislation and regulation that will make behaving sustainably mandatory rather than optional.

What is your biggest challenge?

Covering everything! Sustainability is huge and diverse. It touches everything we do. Developing services that cover even part of the sustainability space is a challenge, but equally, it is rewarding and means that everyone in our team has huge potential for growth and variety.

What do you see as the top perk of working for TÜV SÜD?

Job security.

How have TÜV SÜD supported you?

TÜV SÜD has sponsored me to study, assist me to maintain my professional body membership and chartered status, and recently my son has taken part in an amazing 5-week summer exchange programme for employees’ children. He got to spend 2.5 weeks in Germany and we then hosted a German boy at our home in the UK.

Describe your fellow workers in five words

Committed, knowledgeable, sustainable, friendly, supportive.

Papers, research, work published in industry publications, patents, etc.

41 peer-reviewed journal publications, and 5 patents on which I am lead inventor.  

See Martin Hanton's ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) record.

Committees

Previous

• ‘Standards and Regulations’ working group of the BEIS-appointed Hydrogen Advisory Council

Current

• Hydrogen Regulators Forum (formed from the above)
• Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard working group (formed from the above)

• Safety and Resilience working group of the Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA), now Hydrogen Scotland.
• Steering Board of the Green Hydrogen Test and Demonstration Facility of the Aberdeen Energy Transition Zone.

TÜV SÜD Resources

• What are the benefits of having hydrogen certification?

Have you presented at any industry events?

I've presented at many events including: 

• “Hydrogen certification for market and consumer acceptance”, SHFCA Conference, Oct 2023

Want to learn more about our green energy and sustainability services?

Explore our clean energy and sustainability services which include carbon management. 

You might also be interested in our sustainability and CSR training courses or our hydrogen safety training.