Nine EU Countries Want Low-Carbon Hydrogen Included in Bloc’s Renewables Goals

by Paul Messad (EURACTIV France) Nine EU member states, including France, have called on the European Commission to include low-carbon hydrogen – produced from nuclear electricity – in the EU’s renewable hydrogen targets.

France, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia made the call in a letter sent to the European Commission on Wednesday evening (1 February).

Their demand is based on the principle of “technological neutrality” and “member states sovereignty and competences to decide of their energy mixes,” as defined in the EU treaties.

These principles were reaffirmed in mid-January by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a bilateral summit in Paris.

At the meeting, Scholz recognised the role of nuclear in attaining EU decarbonisation goals, while Macron agreed not to obstruct the development of the H2Med hydrogen pipeline linking Spain to Germany.

Low-carbon hydrogen

In their letter, the energy and industry ministers of the nine member states are calling for this “shift in thinking” to be reflected in the EU’s renewable energy directive (RED), which is currently being revised for the third time.

The group is also calling for similar amendments to be introduced in the so-called “gas package” which regulates the production and transport of hydrogen.

“We urge the Commission to propose an amendment for the RED3 draft, in order to align hydrogen and fuels targets in transport and industry with such a technologically neutral approach,” the nine countries write in the letter.

In their view, aiming for “exclusively renewable” targets could hamper the EU’s main objective of cutting emissions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Together, the nine countries constitute a blocking minority in the EU Council of Ministers, according to the entourage of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French energy transition minister.

Without incentives for all types of clean hydrogen, EU industries could also be tempted to locate production across the Atlantic, where they would benefit from the billions in subsidies offered under the US Inflation Reduction Act.

To align somewhat with the US, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the ‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’ on Wednesday, which aims to accelerate the development of a decarbonised EU industry.

Regulatory alignment between low-carbon and renewable hydrogen is also necessary to encourage the development of trans-European transport infrastructure, the ministers add. In that way, Portugal, Spain, France and Germany have already agreed to extend the future H2Med hydrogen pipeline to Germany.

Read the letter addressed to the European Commission below or download it here. READ MORE

Excerpt from Euractiv: Following a Franco-German compromise on “tech neutrality” last month, the Czech EU Council Presidency proposed introducing a new provision – Article 8a – into the EU gas directive, which is currently up for review.

The proposal, backed by Berlin, was meant to allow low-carbon hydrogen to be counted towards the achievement of decarbonisation targets for industry and transport under the EU’s renewable energy directive.

Since then, however, the Council’s legal services have questioned the provision’s legality, prompting member states opposed to mixing up low-carbon and renewable hydrogen to reiterate their opposition to nuclear.

These positions “are extraordinarily hypocritical” in view of “the climate emergency” which requires mobilising all low-carbon energy sources available, Pannier-Runacher said at Monday’s Energy Council meeting in Brussels.

Targets in the renewables directive

The Czech compromise was meant to defuse months of tensions between Paris and Berlin over the inclusion of nuclear-made hydrogen in the renewable energy directive.

Under the compromise, low-carbon hydrogen was to be counted “as a complement” in the calculation of national greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets in the renewables directive. It would also be allowed when calculating the share of renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs) in transport and industry under the same directive.

A new provision was also inserted in the draft to make sure low-carbon hydrogen “shall not be labelled nor advertised as renewable.”

“German negotiators in Brussels did not respect France’s choice to use its nuclear and renewable electricity to produce hydrogen,” they argue, referring to the failure of negotiations on the introduction of sustainable kerosene produced from nuclear power in the RefuelEU regulation on the development of sustainable aviation fuels. READ MORE