EU’s green hydrogen and renewables legislation held up by ministerial 'disagreement' over nuclear H2
Progress of critical Renewable Energy Directive grinds to a halt as nation states clash over exemptions to green H2 targets
National-level disagreements over the EU’s green hydrogen targets has left a critical piece of the bloc’s climate legislation floundering — despite leaders reaching a landmark political agreement just a few months ago.
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This would allow France to meet its target at 22% of renewable hydrogen in 2030 rather than 42% (and 40% in 2035, not 60%), by virtue of the fact that most of the remainder would be made up of nuclear-derived H2.
But the accord appears to have dissolved, with anti-nuclear Germany believed to be at the centre of the row, leaving the landmark RED II legislation — which also sets binding new renewable energy targets for the bloc — in limbo.
The EU Council, made up of ministers and leaders from the bloc’s nation states, is a key branch of EU government, alongside the executive branch (the European Commission) and the legislative branch (the European Parliament).
“We are extremely concerned that the adoption of these measures is held up by a disagreement within Council on exemptions regarding a sub-target for the use of renewable fuels of non-biological origin,” warned an open letter to the European Council’s Swedish president, signed by 20 of the bloc’s biggest renewable energy and hydrogen trade associations, including the Renewable Hydrogen Coalition and Hydrogen Europe.
“This disagreement is delaying the implementation of provisions, in particular on permitting, that are indispensable to the accelerated development of renewables,” it added.
“Every day that passes without a final Renewable Energy Directive slows the deployment of renewables projects that are badly needed to deliver globally competitive and home-grown energy to European businesses and families.”
Disputes over the role of nuclear in the EU’s hydrogen mix have been raging for months.
In the end, nuclear was not included, although countries with a low-carbon grid were granted exemptions from the need to prove that renewable hydrogen came from “additional” wind and solar capacity.