Politics and Law

Hydrogen Europe has published a position paper on the European Commission’s planned Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP). The association is calling for targeted support measures to accelerate the scale-up of hydrogen in the transport sector – particularly in aviation, shipping and heavy-duty transport.

This July, the European Commission is expected to present a legislative proposal for the 10th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10). In light of this, leading representatives from hydrogen-related research institutions and industry associations have jointly voiced their position. HZwei spoke with Luigi Crema, President of Hydrogen Europe Research, about the importance of FP10 for the hydrogen sector.

Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has presented a draft law to accelerate hydrogen deployment. The aim is to simplify and speed up approval procedures for hydrogen infrastructure. Comments may be submitted until July 28, 2025.

For hydrogen to be able to be used as an important part of the energy transition comprehensively in industry, mobility and energy supply in Germany, new lines must be built and existing natural gas pipelines must also be upgraded for hydrogen transport. This can be challenging, as hydrogen is explosive and attacks the materials of the pipes. Professional material testing creates the necessary security regarding this.

When the European Hydrogen Bank’s first pilot auction (Innovation Fund Auction IF23) was announced on Sept. 5, 2023, it drew much attention. April 30, 2024, then saw the publication of the results for the pilot auction, for which the European Union was making EUR 800 million of support available. Seven projects from northern and southern Europe were successful in obtaining funding. The aim of the hydrogen auction is to accelerate the rollout of green hydrogen and send price signals by narrowing the cost gap between green and fossil-based hydrogen.

The European Commission is allocating nearly 720 million euros to seven projects for renewable hydrogen in Europe. Together, the involved stakeholders aim to produce 1.58 million tons of renewable hydrogen over ten years, thereby avoiding more than 10 million tons of CO2 emissions. Of the selected...

The decision has finally come. In mid-February 2024, the European Commission approved 24 German IPCEI projects aka Important Projects of Common European Interest. Within the framework of IPCEI Hydrogen, funding is granted to large-scale projects across the entire hydrogen value chain – from H₂ production and transportation to storage infrastructure and industrial deployment.