On Wednesday 2 December, the German EU Council Presidency presented new draft conclusions on the establishment of a European hydrogen market and invited the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) to approve these conclusions at their meeting on Friday.
Berlin made some changes to the text compared to the previous version (see EUROPE 12609/16), which could not be validated at Coreper on 27 November.
Indeed, while some Member States such as Luxembourg want the text to give clear priority to renewable hydrogen (produced from electrolysers fuelled by electricity supplied by renewable energies), others want it to put more emphasis on hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon capture and storage or from electricity supplied by nuclear power plants.
While the Presidency retained the reference that the EU Council recognises that “there are various safe and sustainable low-carbon technologies for the production of hydrogen”, it amended the end of the sentence to indicate that these technologies “contribute to rapid decarbonisation”. The previous version stated: “can contribute to the EU’s climate neutrality by 2050”.
On the other hand, the text no longer speaks of giving “priority” to renewable hydrogen, but of putting “an emphasis” on this type of hydrogen, which could displease countries advocating a hydrogen strategy focused exclusively on renewable hydrogen.
In addition, Berlin deleted several parts of sentences that insisted that hydrogen must be “produced using safe and sustainable, low-carbon technologies, in particular from renewable sources”.
According to our sources, the Member States defending the transitional role of natural gas and nuclear power in the production of hydrogen are reportedly satisfied with the new version of the text.
Offshore and other renewable energies
The Presidency also presented the Member States with a new set of draft conclusions on the promotion of European cooperation in the field of offshore and other renewable energies.
This document, which is less clear-cut than the conclusions on hydrogen, contains no significant changes compared to the previous version (see EUROPE 12611/10) and is expected to be validated without difficulty at Coreper on Friday.
If approved by the ambassadors, the two draft conclusions are expected to be adopted without debate at the Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Monday 7 December.
See the draft conclusions on hydrogen: https://bit.ly/3g7Avt6 and on offshore and other renewable energies: https://bit.ly/3g5ujCf (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)