EU must set realistic hydrogen production targets in 2030, according to study by the Carbon Free Europe platform

The European Union (EU) must set realistic targets for green hydrogen production in 2030 and review expectations for CO2 capture and storage to ensure it meets climate objectives by the end of the decade.

“While we recognize the need to transform the market, we specifically question the viability of some of the clean hydrogen and carbon sequestration ambitions in the short term”, highlighted the authors of the report “Annual Decarbonization Outlook 2024”, released today by the Carbon Free platform Europe.

The European Commission has set a target of producing a total of 10 million tonnes of clean hydrogen in the EU, generated from renewable or nuclear energy, by 2030.

According to the annual energy report presented by Brussels in September this year, the production of electrolysers – needed to extract hydrogen from water – indicates that this objective will be achieved, although the Energy Commissioner, Kadri Simson, specified, at a conference of press, which “are not binding objectives, but indicative”.

The study by the Carbon Free Europe platform questions, however, this path and argues that “clean hydrogen supply targets exceed demand in 2030, as use cases in transport and industry are still developing, and the The main user of hydrogen today, oil refineries, is in decline.”

“Similarly, the 2030 carbon capture targets imply a higher than expected deployment of carbon capture technologies. , these technologies are essential to achieving net zero emissions”, point out the report’s authors.

The researchers specify that policymakers “are right to support the creation of initial markets for implementation, but they should also be realistic about the short-term outlook.”

They also add that the reuse of this captured carbon, which would be the last step of this system, is uncertain, as it depends on the development of technologies such as synthetic fuels (e-fuels) that would be manufactured with clean hydrogen and previously captured.

In general terms, the report’s authors highlight in their conclusions “the critical importance of adopting flexible and multifaceted strategies to achieve neutrality in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 across Europe”.

And they add that, although “electrification and the deployment of renewable energies remain fundamental to decarbonization, achieving these objectives will require substantial investments in infrastructure, especially in energy storage, transmission networks and hydrogen gas pipelines”.