Hydrogen: Green or greenwashing?

There are high hopes for hydrogen and e-fuels to help decarbonisation efforts by reducing emissions from aviation, shipping and some heavy industry.  

The EU Commission's ‘Fit for 55’-package shares these high hopes. The Commission’s proposal introduces for the first time ambitious targets in the Renewable Energy Directive for hydrogen and e-fuels - the so-called Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (aka RFNBOs).

But how can we make sure that these fuels are sustainably produced and actually reduce emissions? 

As we have seen from EU policies to promote biofuels like palm oil, we should be careful about setting high targets, without a clear understanding of how renewable fuels are produced. 

The Renewable Energy Directive offers some broad principles to make sure that green hydrogen and e-fuels are produced with additional renewables. Industry players with an interest in the pushing as much hydrogen as quickly as possible have called for a more ‘laissez faire’ approach, i.e. not to impose too many restrictions on this nascent industry. This risks undermining the climate benefits of using green hydrogen and e-fuels. 

Please join T&E for an in-depth discussion of the key issues around the new regulation and how hydrogen and e-fuels can be produced sustainably. We'll be discussing what the forthcoming delegated act on RFNBOs will say on additionality and the need for a 'temporal & geographic correlation' between electrolysers and the additional renewables.

We’ll be joined by the following panelists:

• European Commission, Directorate-General Energy – Bernd Kuepker, policy officer

• Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK – Dr. Falko Ueckerdt, Head of National Energy Transitions Team

• Bellona - Marta Lovisolo, policy advisor

• Wind Europe - Pierre Tardieu, Chief Policy Officer

• Iberdrola – Ane Landaluze Solaun, EU Regulatory Expert

Moderated by Sonja van Renssen