EU puts renewable hydrogen on the fast track

The European Union’s ambitious targets for carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas reduction will require a massive scaling- and speeding-up of renewable hydrogen production and imports – already 20 million tons will be needed by 2030 as part of the REPowerEU plan to fast-forward the green transition.

Obviously, the first priority will be electrification, but electrification can’t cover all industry sectors. That’s the reason why renewable hydrogen and derivatives of renewable hydrogen are so important: Because they’ll decarbonize sectors that are hard to decarbonize, as well as bring clean energy from areas where there are more renewables to regions like Europe, where there is a huge demand but the amount of renewables is limited.

Out of the 20 million tons of renewable hydrogen that the European Union wants to have by 2030, 10 million tons per annum will have to come from imports, which will actually drive development. The imports we see coming from traditional energy exporters like the Middle East and Australia, but also from countries which are new to the energy landscape like, for example, Chile, Namibia or Morocco, which are coming up strong.

Europe is at the forefront, but things are evolving very quickly in the USA as well. Two or three years ago, we weren’t even discussing the topic; it was all about the US Gulf Coast, for example, the shale gas boom or the oil and gas industry. Now, we see a real change in the USA. So, that’s coming in all areas, and I think our partnership should have this global view and global objective. Of course, the basis and foundation are today here in Europe, but the ambition is global.