The European Commission has launched the third auction of the European Hydrogen Bank (EHB). A total of three billion euros is available for this purpose – 1.3 billion euros from the EU budget and another 1.7 billion euros from national budgets. The funds are to be distributed into three funding categories: 600 million euros for hydrogen from renewable sources (RFNBO), 400 million euros for a mixed category of RFNBO and low-carbon hydrogen, and 300 million euros for projects with customers in air or sea transport.
Germany is participating through the "Auction-as-a-Service" (AaaS) model with 1.3 billion euros. This is intended to support the production of renewable hydrogen, which will be fed into the German core network via the planned pipeline between Denmark and Germany. Spain is providing an additional 415 million euros – 278.6 million euros for renewable hydrogen and 136.4 million euros for applications in aviation and shipping. The deadline for submitting bids is February 19, 2026.
Innovation Fund 2025 Announced with 2.9 Billion Euros
Parallel to the EHB auction, the Commission has announced the Innovation Fund 2025 (IF25). It targets projects for the production of clean technologies and decarbonization. A total of 2.9 billion euros is available, distributed across five categories: cleantech (1 billion euros), large projects (1.2 billion euros), medium projects (300 million euros), pilot projects (300 million euros), and small projects (100 million euros). The application deadline is April 23, 2026.
Compared to the previous year, the budgets for cleantech, medium, and pilot projects have been increased by 40 to 50 percent. The funds for large and small projects remain unchanged.
Hydrogen Europe Welcomes Expansion of Funding
Daniel Fraile, Chief Policy & Market Officer of Hydrogen Europe, comments: "The announcement of the third auction and the call for funding are excellent news as we continue to support the growth of a decarbonized hydrogen market."
Hydrogen Europe particularly welcomes the opening of the EHB to low-carbon electrolytic hydrogen in line with the Low-Carbon Delegated Act and the increased funding for air and sea transport. The stricter requirements for project maturity – such as mandatory equity participation – are also positively evaluated. These are intended to ensure that only investment-ready projects are funded.
However, the association views the new resilience criteria critically, which focus on the origin of components. According to Hydrogen Europe, these could "create loopholes for easy circumvention" and represent a step back from the previous process-oriented approach.
Goal: Mobilize Investments in Hydrogen Technologies
With the combination of the European Hydrogen Bank auction and the Innovation Fund, the EU aims to mobilize public and private investments in hydrogen technologies. The AaaS model allows member states to allocate national funds through the EU auction process. This is intended to facilitate the scaling of national projects while ensuring a uniform evaluation.
