In a letter, 19 MEPs from across the political spectrum have urged the European Commission to include low-carbon hydrogen in the production targets for decarbonised hydrogen and to promote domestic production instead of imports.
In its REPowerEU plan presented in May, the Commission set out an objective to develop ten million tons of renewable hydrogen and import the same amount by 2030.
The plan was presented in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the aim of accelerating Europe’s energy transition and ditching Russian fossil fuels “well before 2030”.
However, the Commission’s plan did not mention low-carbon hydrogen, which can be produced either from nuclear electricity or from fossil fuels like gas, with carbon capture and storage technology to bury the emissions underground.
In a joint letter, 19 MEPs from the socialist (S&D), centrist (Renew) and right-wing (EPP and ECR) groups express their disappointment to the European Commission over the issue.
They ask the EU executive to “develop a legal framework for clean hydrogen that is as coherent as possible” and prioritises domestic production, including of low-carbon hydrogen, over imports.
“Low-carbon hydrogen still has no status, even though it can be produced on a large scale and help decarbonise the economy,” said MEP Christophe Grudler (Renew), who initiated the letter.
Low-carbon hydrogen can be produced from nuclear power, but its use is controversial for other countries like Austria and Germany who opposed its inclusion in the EU’s green finance taxonomy.
But Grudler and the other signatories of the letter do not understand “this obsession with low-carbon hydrogen and nuclear.” There is “systematically a barrier” to its development, Grudler told EURACTIV.fr.
France in the loop
This was also the position defended by Paris in a letter to EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson seen by EURACTIV.fr.
Like the MEPs, French Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher asked the EU executive to reconsider its position on the inclusion of hydrogen produced from nuclear power.
Given “the absolute priority of the next decade for hydrogen, […] the only thing that matters is the carbon footprint of the hydrogen produced and not the production method,” the French minister wrote in her letter.
Despite Germany’s reluctance to nuclear, two German MEPs also signed the letter – Christian Ehler (EPP) and Ulrike Müller (Renew Europe).
“These MEPs, like all the others, are trying to find a balance and simply recognise the sovereignty of each member state over its energy mix,” Grudler explained.
Producing instead of importing
The letter also underlines the need to ensure “full equality of treatment between domestic and imported hydrogen.”
In September, the European Parliament voted a revision of the EU’s renewable energy directive, which introduced looser criteria for imported hydrogen than for hydrogen produced within the Union.
According to the letter, “the EU should first focus on developing the necessary capacity of clean hydrogen domestic production, whether it comes from renewable or low-carbon sources, before importing any other additional molecules from reliable international partners.”
Following the Parliament’s vote, the renewable energy directive is now being forwarded to the Commission and the Council in view of reaching a final agreement before the end of the year.
SOURCE: EURACTIV
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