Your father was most likely talking about hydrogen generated by splitting water using electrolysis, powered by renewable energy. That’s the usual definition of “green hydrogen."
Really, up until a few years ago, the very idea that useful amounts of naturally occurring hydrogen (as described in this story) could be recovered was thought to be nothing more than a fantasy. That’s what makes this story newsworthy. (As my electrical engineer brother used to say, “Unless you can point to great gouts of hydrogen stored underground, hydrogen will never be a viable fuel.)
When I drew this story to my brother’s attention, his reaction was, “Good! It’s in Canada! I may only hear the explosion.” — He had built hydrogen leak detectors for an “accelerator" facility.
Hydrogen is a tricky element, it’s so small it can leak out of joints more easily than other gases or fluids. It’s also so small, that it can sneak into metals, causing them to become brittle (known as “hydrogen embrittlement.”) This makes it challenging, but I don’t believe the challenges are insurmountable. NASA for example has been working with hydrogen since before it existed. (Early hydrogen-powered rockets were built by a NASA predecessor, NACA.) The Saturn V’s upper stages were powered by hydrogen and oxygen. (The explosion on Apollo 13 was not caused by hydrogen, it occurred in a liquid oxygen tank.) The Challenger’s hydrogen tank exploded, but it was ignited by a leak in one of the solid rocket boosters. — Still, it stands as a dramatic demonstration that hydrogen can (potentially) be dangerous.
I think that “green hydrogen” and/or fuels made with “green hydrogen” (like “green ammonia”) will play a role in our future energy system, but it is not “the solution."
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