H2 Talk: AFIF, AFIR and the future of hydrogen mobility

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Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe

2026 will be a crucial year for the European hydrogen industry: projects must be translated into reality to move Europe closer to a decarbonised and competitive economy. However, bottlenecks persist in the road transport sector, and the uptake is going slower than expected. One of the reasons is the sudden announcement from the European Commission that the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF), the primary financing tool for the deployment of hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) in Europe, would be terminated because the budget has been used entirely. 

Moreover, this year will see the start of the review process of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), the flagship legislation for the deployment of HRS throughout Europe. Security of supply provided by a dense network is the prerequisite for businesses to switch to hydrogen, which is why stations must be in place before the vehicles. Therefore, synchronisation is crucial: HRS and vehicles deployment must happen in a coordinated manner.  

During this H2Talk, we will hear about the idea behind the new and existing consortium funding schemes in the Netherlands and Germany, the possibility of replicating these programmes in other Member States, and whether this could be an opportunity to reshape AFIF in the future amidst ongoing negotiations on the CEF budget for 2028-2034. Best practices and challenges will be analysed to offer food for thought to the European Commission and assess what can be replicated at the European level. 

The discussion will also touch upon priorities for the review of AFIR and what other variables slowed down the rollout of stations and vehicles so far. The panel will provide key recommendations on ways to support the mass scale up of hydrogen in the mobility sector. 

For more info, have a look also at Hydrogen Europe’s papers on scaling up hydrogen in road transport and funding for hydrogen mobility.

Keynote speech: 

Florian Henkel, External Affairs and Hydrogen Technology, cellcentric

Speakers Include: 

• Roos Geelhoed, Coordinator Hydrogen and Mobility, RVO, Dutch Enterprise Agency
• Florentin de Loppinot, CEO, TEAL Mobility
• Pablo Cisternas, Director, Policy & Business Management, Hydrogen Energy, Air Liquide - speaking as a GHMA representative 
• Dario Dubolino, Policy Officer, European Commission, DG MOVE