The European Renewables and Low-Carbon Fuels Alliance holds its first General Assembly

The members of the European Renewables and Low Carbon Fuels Value Chain Industrial (RLCF) Alliance met for the first time yesterday in Brussels in the first General Assembly of the initiative.  Since the Alliance was launched in April with the support of Commissioner Adina Vălean, more than 150 stakeholders of the fuel value chain have joined the Alliance; a number that is expected to grow further in the coming weeks.

The General Assembly represents an important milestone for the RLCF Alliance. Members adopted their first annual Work Programme and agreed to launch four thematic roundtables: i) “Feedstock and synergies between transport modes”, ii) “Aviation”, iii) “Waterborne transport”, and iv) “Access to funding and financing”. The roundtables will address key topics such as the availability and affordability of renewable and low-carbon drop-in fuels, and the quick scale-up of their production, storage, distribution, and use required to meet the targets of the Fit for 55 Package. The roundtables will also support the creation of a pipeline of R&D and industrialisation investment projects.

Hydrogen Europe welcomes the outcomes of the General Assembly and is glad to see the commitment of companies during the consultation of the Work Programme and the meeting. Hydrogen Europe is proud to support the European Commission in the organisation of the RLCF Alliance, as one of its two secretariat organisations. By supporting this Alliance, Hydrogen Europe underlines its commitment to the decarbonisation of the transport sector by providing resources and expertise on the hydrogen dimension of the Renewables and Low-Carbon Fuels value chain.

Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, commented “Decarbonising the transport sector is of utmost importance as it is responsible for a third of CO2 emissions. Renewable and low-carbon hydrogen-based fuels will play a critical role in both aviation and waterborne transport because they are scalable, and competitive and allow us to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. We are witnessing a paradigm shift from fossil-based fuels toward fully decarbonised fuels. This needs lots of effort, clear targets, and a concrete plan. This is the task of this alliance and not to produce just another paper. The financial world is looking upon this development attentively and with great interest. If we are not setting the regulatory framework right, this endeavour will be hampered massively. The delegated acts on defining renewable and decarbonised hydrogen will have a decisive impact here.”

Hydrogen Europe supports the increase of the RFNBOs targets for transport to 5%, and the adoption of relevant sub-targets for FuelEU Maritime and ReFuel EU Aviation. 

Hydrogen Europe also welcomes the work of the Alliance in addressing funding mechanisms such as carbon contracts for difference and the expected work with the financial community to de-risk RLCF projects and guarantee their profitability. Hydrogen Europe is organizing an  Investors Forum dedicated to Mobility on 20-21 September. We invite all the members of the RLCF Alliance to attend and pitch their projects to the financial community.