EU stakes claim to hydrogen future

Integrated plan sets bloc on course for world-leading role and to hit its Paris Agreement commitment

The EU launched its much-anticipated strategy for a climate-neutral economy on 8 July and confirmed—following earlier leaks—that clean hydrogen will play a central role. Indeed, the plan has just two central components: energy system integration and a hydrogen strategy. While the debate around green hydrogen, created through renewables-powered electrolysis, and blue hydrogen, utilising methane steam reforming and carbon capture and storage (CCS), is not definitively settled it is very clear where the supranational organisation’s heart lies. “The priority is to develop renewable hydrogen, produced using mainly wind and solar energy,” the strategy document stated. “However, in the short and me