EU frets over China’s green hydrogen progress

European Commission highlights rapid growth of Chinese production this year, as it retains strict procurement rules in latest European Hydrogen Bank subsidy auction

The EU has warned of the growing threat to its domestic green hydrogen supply chain from China, which has breezed past its 2025 production targets and looks set to tighten its grip on the industry in 2026. The EU’s main green hydrogen funding channel, the European Hydrogen Bank, already stipulates that projects bidding for subsidies must source 75% of electrolyser components from countries other than China. This is because of “a significant risk of increased and irreversible dependency of the EU on imports of electrolysers originating in China, which may threaten the EU’s security of supply”, the European Commission said on launching the second round of auctions in December 2024. However, on