The European Commission has opened a consultation on a renewed EU hydrogen strategy, the first comprehensive review since the original strategy was published in 2020. Stakeholders have until 23 November to respond. The 2020 strategy set out a roadmap for renewable hydrogen, produced by splitting water using electricity from wind or solar in devices called electrolysers, as a clean fuel for sectors such as steel, chemicals and shipping. It set targets of 6 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2024 and 40 GW by 2030. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the REPowerEU plan raised these ambitions, targeting 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen produced in the EU and a further 10 million tonnes imported by 2030.
Since then, the EU has put in place a substantial regulatory framework, including detailed definitions of renewable hydrogen, a market package for hydrogen networks, and binding targets for renewable hydrogen use in industry and transport. However, the Commission acknowledges that production and use are developing more slowly than anticipated. In 2024 the European Court of Auditors concluded that the targets had been driven by political will rather than robust analysis. Although €18.8 billion in EU funding had been made available for hydrogen-related projects, only those at an advanced stage of development, adding less than 5 GW of capacity by 2030, appeared likely to deliver, leaving the EU well short of its 40 GW goal. Producers have also argued that the conditions governing what qualifies as renewable hydrogen, such as the requirement for new renewable power to supply electrolysers, add cost and complexity that make projects harder to finance.
The new consultation is accordingly focused on identifying where projects are stalling and why, rather than on building a market from first principles. It also gives renewed attention to low-carbon hydrogen, including production from natural gas with carbon capture and hydrogen made using nuclear electricity, alongside renewable hydrogen. In line with the auditors’ recommendations, a more targeted focus on hard-to-decarbonise industrial processes is also expected. A key question is whether the EU will revise its targets to more achievable levels, retain them and adjust the rules to support delivery, or pursue a combination of the two.