To achieve climate neutrality at EU level by 2050, the development of hydrogen resources must go hand in hand with efforts to promote energy efficiency and electrification and to phase out fossil gas, said E3G, a climate change think tank, in a report published on 11 June.
“Phasing in hydrogen without a clear strategy for phasing out unabated fossil gas - responsible for far more emissions than coal - would undermine the legitimacy of the transition: increasing costs without climate benefits”, write Lisa Fischer and Simon Skillings, the two authors of the paper.
They recommend considering the EU Hydrogen Strategy - due to be presented by the European Commission on 24 June (see EUROPE 12496/15) - as an opportunity for a new regulatory and planning approach.
To achieve climate neutrality and enable the deployment of hydrogen, they consider it necessary to strengthen the EU’s capacity “to carry out evidence-based whole energy system analysis, accelerate learning and manage risks”.
Considering that we have neither the time nor the money to keep all possible paths towards decarbonisation open, the authors call for certain choices to be made now regarding the future of the European energy system.
In particular, they call for the removal of obstacles to fair competition between fossil gas and all its alternatives such as hydrogen, including fossil fuel subsidies (e.g. VAT exemptions).
On the same day, during a debate with the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Kerstin Jorna, Director-General of the European Commission’s Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Division (DG GROW), said that the institution aims to increase the EU’s hydrogen production capacity to 80 GW by 2030 (40 GW inside the EU and 40 GW outside).
It has estimated the investment needs to reach this target at €400 billion.
To view the E3G report: https://bit.ly/2UB6Ejk (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)