Brussels, 23 May 2022
The European Commission has launched two consultations on two delegated acts clarifying EU rules applicable to renewable hydrogen under the 2018 Renewable Energy Directive. Once adopted, these documents will complete the Commission’s overall proposal for a regulatory framework for renewable hydrogen.
However, hydrogen production could incentivise electricity generation from fossil sources, which would undermine the climate benefit of hydrogen and its role in strengthening EU energy security. This is why the Commission is also setting requirements that will ensure that increased generation of renewable hydrogen is matched with a corresponding rise in the renewable power production.
REPowerEU outlines hydrogen accelerator
Hydrogen has been identified as an important part of the solution for hard-to-decarbonise sectors, such as aviation and maritime and certain industrial sectors. In the REPowerEU plan, published earlier this week, the Commission tabled the concept of the hydrogen accelerator to roll out this new technology even more quickly.
In the Staff Working Document accompanying the REPowerEU plan, the Commission outlines actions to scale up demand and supply even faster and higher than in the 2020 hydrogen strategy. The REPowerEU ambition is to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen in the EU by 2030 – increased from the 5.6 mt already foreseen within the proposals of the EU framework to decarbonise gas markets published in December 2021 – and to import 10 mt of renewable hydrogen from third countries.
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