The burning of oil produces Co2 and Co2 that has not been in the atmosphere for 100's of millions of years. Not sure why you would need someone with a PhD to explain that the burning of Hydrogen produces no real greenhouse effect it should be basic chemistry Burning Hydrogen produces nothing but a little water, and we can't increase water vapor in the atmosphere (unless temperature rises) so it has no real effect on AGW. Where hydrogen could produce some Co2 is in the creation process, if say a coal fired power station is used to produce the electricity that makes the hydrogen.
But producing hydrogen is also a perfect way to store the energy of solar and wind power. Deniers will try their usual games, (as one already has) like trying to drag in the Hindenburg, so they are trying to compare technology of 75 years ago to today, this is lame even by denier standards. Perhaps they should look at real stats on those killed as the cause of most of the deaths related not to burning from the Hydrogen but the fall and falling debris of the airframe, hydrogen burns so fast and rises as it burns that few were injured by direct burns from hydrogen but instead they were burned by the rubberized fabric which was highly flammable, but it would seem deniers would rather make empty statements than actually check any facts.
Of course if we were to use Sagebrush logic then perhaps ships are to dangerous to use as well http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/disas... The dangers of hydrogen are exaggerated by those who think gasoline the answer to all problems. http://www.40fires.org/Wiki.jsp?page=Hyd... So the simple answer to your question is, as long as the electrical source to produce the hydrogen is not coal or fossil fuels then it contributes nothing to AGW. This is an excellent use for these renewables as they are not 24/7 energy sources due to their nature.
My guess would be a pedantic denier would claim it still has to be transported (but so does gasoline) but even here there are saving to be made producing hydrogen can be done almost anywhere, where oil has to be shipped for the site it is drilled from then transported to a refinery and then to an end user.
It depends on where the hydrogen comes from. If it's generated from fossil fuels, then I'm pretty sure it is at best a wash, relative to existing power sources. But, if hydrogen generation is used as a way to store excess power from intermittent renewable power sources like solar and wind, or excess power during slack periods from nuclear or hydroelectric sources, then it would help significantly.
Here's a random scholarly article that might help, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/57... , I got it from searching on Google Scholar with the search terms hydrogen power global warming.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.