Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has said that mandatory environmental assessments for green hydrogen projects will be scrapped from March 2023 in a bid to speed up investments in the sector.

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The so-called Simplex package, which aims to reduce bureaucracy, will also end mandatory environmental assessments for solar farms smaller than 100 hectares and wind farms with turbines that are more than 2km apart, according to Reuters.

“Environmental impact assessment and environment license will no longer be necessary (because) we want to create better conditions for investment in green hydrogen production, which is absolutely crucial to accelerate the energy transition and decarbonise the economy,” said Costa.

The existing licensing process has a “bureaucratic burden, which increases the... costs and limits the investments”, he added.

But local environmental group Geota said the measures could cause “significant damage to the environment”.

Portugal aims to become a major producer and exporter of green hydrogen, claiming in November that 70 private investors had lined up to spend €10bn ($10.5bn) on renewable H2 projects in the country.

As part of its REPowerEU package announced in May, the European Commission plans to speed up permitting for renewables projects in the EU due to the “overriding public interest”, with member states created dedicated “go-to” areas with “shortened and simplified permitting processes”.