Hydrogen Europe

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Press Release

Brussels, 26 February 2025

The European Commission’s publication of the Clean Industrial Deal (CID) plan today demonstrates its continued focus on climate targets and the promotion of domestic clean technology manufacturing. Lead markets are central to the plan, with renewable and low-carbon hydrogen technologies one of the core pillars of that.

The text shows the Commission wants to support the industry effort to reach 2030 targets and understands that more demand-side measures are required to do so. Project labelling and incentives for decarbonisation projects will be key. A better use of the EU’s Single Market to ensure lead markets for low-carbon products through improved labelling and procurement rules will strengthen the business case for products like green steel or green ammonia.

“By incentivising demand and rewarding early movers, looking at the pull over the push, the Clean Industrial Deal can jumpstart Europe’s clean technology sectors, including hydrogen. But we must turn words into actions! If there is no positive development in the next 18 months, we are all but guaranteed to miss our 2030 climate targets. Focusing on demand and simplifying production rules and access to funding for clean technologies is paramount if we are to prevent this failure,” said Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe.

The Affordable Energy Action Plan (AEAP), a strategy to lower energy costs for EU citizens that was also published today as part of the CID, proposes to put forward methodologies for network taxes and charges to incentivise flexibility and reduce the cost for necessary demand. This should benefit green hydrogen production as it is an energy intensive process but can provide this much needed flexibility. Proposals to accelerate permitting processes are also welcome, though clarifications are needed regarding the permitting regime applying to hydrogen infrastructure. Additionally, tackling permitting bottlenecks through the upcoming Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act (IDAA) is long overdue and, from a hydrogen perspective, sorely needed.

Despite some clear positives, Hydrogen Europe and its membership are dismayed to see that, as it currently stands, the CID fails to adopt a truly sector-integrated approach for energy. Its main indicators are still expressed in terms of electrification progress, while cross-sectorial planning – instrumental to achieving a systemic reduction of costs – is almost entirely left aside. By not adopting a true technology-neutral policy, the EU risks failing to deliver a decarbonised, reliable, and affordable energy system.

In addition, by declining to explicitly bring forward the revision of the RFNBO Delegated Act, which is keeping renewable hydrogen unnecessarily expensive, the European Commission risks jeopardising the ramp up of the whole sector, with far reaching consequences. We are glad to see the commitment to adopt the low-carbon fuel Delegated Act in Q1 2025, as this is holding back many investments in the sector.

We urge lawmakers to swiftly come together and work on the implementation of these actions, while ensuring a cross-sectoral approach that recognises hydrogen’s essential role to Europe’s decarbonisation.

For more info:

Are you a member of Hydrogen Europe? Check the full analysis prepared by the secretariat available in the Members Only Area. In the dedicated folder (click here to access) you will find by tomorrow noon the latest a full updated document on the Clean Industrial Deal, the CID State aid framework and Affordable Energy Action Plan that were released today.

Clean Industrial Deal resources: