The EU’s goals to produce and import green hydrogen fuel are unrealistic and unlikely to be met despite billions of euros in funding, the European Court of Auditors said yesterday.
The European Commission has set targets to produce up to 10 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030 and import a further 10 million tonnes. While not binding, the goals are part of the bloc’s plans to end its reliance on Russian fuel imports.
In a report, the court said that those targets were based on “political will” rather than robust analysis, and the EU is far off track to meet them.
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Another target set by Brussels, to install at least 40 gigawatts (GW) of hydrogen electrolyzers by 2030, was an idea suggested in documents by a hydrogen lobby group, the report said.
Despite EU funding of 18.8 billion euros (US$20.5 billion) for hydrogen projects, projects that would add less than 5GW of production capacity by 2030 have reached an advanced stage, although projects totaling about 50GW of capacity are also at an earlier assessment stage.
Green hydrogen is deemed crucial to meet the EU’s climate change commitments. It is produced by using energy from renewable sources to split water. The EU is banking on it to decarbonize industrial processes such as steel and fertilizer manufacturing.
“The EU’s industrial policy on renewable hydrogen needs a reality check,” said auditor Stef Blok, who led the report.
The court said that the European Commission should devise a more targeted approach to allocating EU funding and update its policies to incentivize hydrogen projects.
A commission spokesperson said it took note of the report and acknowledged that the hydrogen market was taking shape “gradually.”
“Our work is far from finished. We now have to accelerate the deployment and uptake of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen in Europe,” the spokesperson said.
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