The European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, and the German Federal Minister for the Economy and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, met on Wednesday 31 March in Lower Saxony, Germany, to discuss current European energy issues in the context of the REPowerEU strategy and the growing importance of hydrogen, in particular by linking the new European Hydrogen Bank (see EUROPE 13143/4) to the German initiative H2Global.
H2Global aims to promote the development of the technology and market for green hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives, and will be open “to all EU Member States interested in running their own hydrogen tenders”, says a European Commission press release.
The European Hydrogen Bank and the German initiative will also develop a joint European auction targeting international hydrogen imports.
“Hydrogen is key for the full decarbonisation of our energy system, alongside energy efficiency, renewables, and electrification”, said Kadri Simson. “I am glad to see that Germany is the first mover in setting up an international auction.”
Hydrogen Europe, the organisation that represents the hydrogen industry and stakeholders, welcomed the initiative as a way of “set[ting] in motion the Bank’s external pillar for the much-needed imports of renewable hydrogen from outside the EU”, “after assigning an €800 million budget for the first pilot auction of the domestic European Hydrogen Bank” (see EUROPE 13143/4). (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)