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19 November 2025Press Release
Brussels, 18 November, 2025
A PricewaterhouseCoopers report commissioned by Hydrogen Europe has laid out how green
lead markets can effectively increase demand for hydrogen and its derivatives while helping to
meet EU climate ambitions.
The European Commission is presenting its Clean Industrial Deal implementation package,
together with relevant pieces of legislation of the Automotive implementation package. One of
the flagship initiatives, the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), is expected to propose specific tools
and measures for certain industrial sectors – green lead markets, aiming to achieve both
decarbonisation and competitiveness for European industry at large.
The report evaluates how such lead markets could be developed for the European hydrogen
sector and examines which demand-side designs could impact steel and fertiliser industries,
and how these might align with current or future EU laws.
The report delves into the effectiveness and applicability of various market making models and
confirms that lead markets are an effective way to increase demand and provide
investment certainty for clean steel and ammonia-based fertiliser plants, and can be
facilitated through various regulatory measures without significantly impacting the end-product
prices or sector willingness to pay:
Sector-specific quotas on end-products
- Imposing obligations on end-products including imports; exports may be excluded for
competitiveness - Ensuring off-take for clean primary steel and fertilizers
- Adoption of H2 without major consumer price increase
Public procurement: Quotas may require lower implementation effort and serve as a complementary demand driver
Other models: Bonus models, voluntary use of labels, or product-based levies may also push clean lead markets
Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, commented: “This report highlights the
benefits and feasibility of supporting European clean steel and decarbonised fertilisers through
lead market measures. This is especially important in light of the upcoming Industrial
Accelerator Act (IAA) – if the Commission doesn’t come forward with strong sector-specific
measures in the IAA, all the discourse around a Clean Industrial Deal will have been for nothing.
It will be the end of climate finance as we know it.”
Matthias Stephan, Local Partner at PwC, added: “Our study proves that lead markets for clean
products can stimulate significant clean hydrogen offtake while ensuring Europe’s
competitiveness and climate ambitions.”
Hydrogen Europe’s position paper on Green Lead Markets
European Commission, Clean Industrial Deal
Euractiv event recording – “Green lead markets – driving Europe’s industrial decarbonisation”
