A coalition of 25 stakeholders including think tanks such as E3G and industry representatives (WindEurope, SolarPower Europe, etc.) published an open letter on Thursday 10 March calling on the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union not to extend the European Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001, RED II) beyond renewables.
The letter comes as Parliament’s rapporteur for the review of RED II, Markus Pieper (EPP, Germany), proposed to bring low-carbon hydrogen within the scope of the directive (see EUROPE 12891/5), drawing the ire of the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups.
For the signatory organisations, only renewable hydrogen (produced from electrolysers powered by electricity from renewables) should be included in the scope of RED II.
They also highlight “the benefits of adopting ambitious binding targets for renewable hydrogen and derivative e-fuels in priority sectors such as industry and transport, including aviation and shipping”.
They argue that this would send a strong signal to the market, accelerate private investment, reduce the cost of the technology through mass deployment, and support the development of the upstream value chain, thereby creating jobs.
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/qh (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)