Environmental implications of reducing the platinum group metal loading in fuel cells and electrolysers: Anion exchange membrane versus proton exchange membrane cells

•Comprehensive life cycle assessment of new anion exchange membrane (AEM) cells.•Compared to proton exchange membrane cells in Fuel Cells, FC, and Electrolysers, EL.•Sensitivity analyses e.g. regarding performance, life time and Pt group contents.•For FC, higher environmental impact of AEMs in most impact categories.•For EL, lower environmental impact of AEMs in most impact categories. Using substantial amounts of platinum group metals (PGM) is one main obstacle to mass-market application of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells (FC) and electrolysers (EL). Aiming to develop cells with lower PGM contents, low-PGM anion exchange membrane (AEM) cells were developed in an EU-funded project. Environmental impacts are compared to state-of-the-art PEM-FC (two reference years) and PEM-EL applications in a life cycle assessment covering 27 impact categories. While having a lower PGM loading, environmental impacts of the AEM-FC are higher in 26 out of the 27 impact categories than the PEM-FC 2020. Increasing performance and lifetime in sensitivity analyses resulted in more similar environmental performance. The AEM-EL has a lower environmental impact than the PEM-EL in 24 impact categories, including climate change. Considering their low technology readiness level, the findings are promising for the technological roadmap of AEM technology for low-PGM FC and EL.