The future 'Clean Hydrogen Alliance' will be industry-led, but will also include all stakeholders in the hydrogen ecosystem, i.e. industry, Member States and regions, trade unions, NGOs, research and technology organisations and civil society, says a European Commission document consulted by EUROPE on Friday 3 July.
According to this draft governance of the Alliance, it will bring together "all segments of the ecosystem (supply, demand and distribution) to achieve the scale needed to reduce costs and improve competitiveness".
If the information contained in the document is confirmed, a steering committee, permanently chaired by one of the Vice-Presidents of the Commission or one of the European Commissioners, will manage the Alliance.
With the task of ensuring the coherence and comprehensiveness of the Alliance's activities, this committee will also include representatives of the industrial pillars selected by Hydrogen Europe, regions and cities, civil society, the 'European Clean Hydrogen Partnership' and Member States.
Among the many industry representatives are the chief executive officers of gas companies such as Shell, Gasunie and Snam, a possibility criticised by MEP Michael Bloss (Greens/EFA, Germany).
For him, the alliance described in this document "is like a collection of dinosaurs trying to protect their ancient fossil technology". He also considers that civil society should be better represented.
The work of the Alliance would be divided into six axes organised by Hydrogen Europe, each focusing on one of the six selected industrial pillars: (1) hydrogen production; (2) transmission and distribution; (3) mobility applications; (4) industrial applications; (5) the energy sector; and (6) residential applications (see EUROPE 12520/30).
The Alliance will be officially launched on Wednesday 8 July, on the occasion of the presentation of the EU strategies on hydrogen (see EUROPE 12511/11) and for the integration of energy sectors (see EUROPE 12520/5). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)