On Thursday 18 September, several MEPs from the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group lodged an objection to the delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen. According to our information, a vote could take place on 16 October in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE).
Eleven ECR MEPs on the ITRE committee, along with EPP MEP Adam Jarubas, lodged this objection, arguing that the proposed delegated act “would make low carbon hydrogen production in the EU nearly impossible by imposing restrictive and unworkable emission calculation rules”.
To be able to lodge an objection in parliamentary committee, nine MEPs from two political groups are required.
The draft objection calls on the Commission to submit a new delegated act by mid-2026 at the latest, with a “clear and simple” methodology, recognising “low-carbon hydrogen production from non-renewable sources that includes production from natural gas involving carbon capture and storage, biomass, biomethane as well as zero-carbon energy from nuclear power plants”.
It also asks that the assessment of hydrogen produced from electricity generated under a PPA (power purchase agreement) with a nuclear power plant should not be postponed until the 2028 revision (see EUROPE 13630/32).
Presented by the European Commission on 8 July, the new delegated act lays down rules for calculating low-carbon hydrogen emissions, which must be 70% lower than fossil fuel emissions (see EUROPE 13677/21).
Despite a revised text compared to the last provisional version dating from the spring of 2025 (see EUROPE 13630/32), the final delegated act still attracted criticism from MEPs in the ITRE Committee, particularly on the right of the political spectrum (see EUROPE 13702/2).
The EPP group, which includes MEPs such as the Germans Christian Ehler and Andrea Wechsler who are particularly critical of the proposed rules on low-carbon hydrogen, could also present a text in the next few days.
The European Parliament and the Council of the EU have two months to reject the act following its publication by the European Commission. An extension has been granted until November, to allow a parliamentary plenary vote on the objection.
To see the ECR MEPs’ objection: https://aeur.eu/f/iiw (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)