On Friday 11 December the Council of the European Union formally adopted by written procedure its conclusions on the establishment of a European hydrogen market, as well as those on offshore and other renewable energies. These conclusions were approved on Wednesday by the Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper - see EUROPE 12620/28).
In its conclusions on hydrogen, the EU Council invites the European Commission in particular to map out the way forward to achieve the objectives of the hydrogen strategy presented by the institution in early July (see EUROPE 12523/1), namely: to install at least 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolysers in the EU by 2024 and 40 GW by 2030.
The EU Council further underlines that there are various safe and sustainable low-carbon technologies for the production of hydrogen that contribute to rapid decarbonisation. It recognises, however, that the focus should be on hydrogen produced from electrolysers fuelled by electricity from renewable sources.
These formulations had to be reworked several times by the German Presidency of the Council due to divisions between Member States in favour of 100% renewable hydrogen and those championing a role for ‘low carbon’ hydrogen (see EUROPE 12616/13).
The conclusions on renewable energy underline in particular the need for more cross-border projects in order to ensure greater integration of the internal energy market and thus enhance the deployment of renewable energy.
In this context, the EU Council is requesting particular guidance from the Commission on how to implement cross-border energy projects and how to conclude the corresponding bilateral and multilateral agreements between Member States.
See the conclusions on hydrogen: https://bit.ly/37ULxyn and renewable energies: https://bit.ly/3nc2P0f (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)