Without climate-neutral hydrogen, Europe will hardly be able to achieve its ambitious goals.
(Photo: dpa)
If you charge the battery of your electric car at a public charging station, you don’t always know whether you are charging more coal or more wind power. But that doesn’t matter, because the legal fiction is clear: E-cars drive CO2-free, the fueled electricity is therefore considered green. For the manufacturers, e-cars are included in the CO2 fleet balance as if they did not cause any climate-damaging emissions when driving. The idea behind this is that the share of renewables in power generation is constantly increasing anyway, so electric cars are literally growing into climate neutrality. Who would want to be petty?
Things are quite different with green hydrogen. The ideas of the EU Commission, about which a final decision is to be made on June 17, are a deterrent example of unrealistic regulation. The EU Commission wants to stipulate that from 2027, only electricity that comes from additional, non-subsidized wind turbines or photovoltaic systems may be used for hydrogen electrolysis. In addition, the electricity should only be used in the electrolyzers when there is a surplus of electricity that cannot be sensibly integrated into the power grid.
In the case of e-cars, this would mean that every e-car buyer is obliged to buy a wind turbine with their car and only charge the car if this wind turbine is currently producing electricity for which there is currently no other use are.
Yes, there are dry arguments for doing so. For example, overloading of the power grids should be prevented.
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But a look at the big picture makes it clear: the regulation is absurd and inhibits innovation. It is completely losing sight of the actual goal of building a value chain for green hydrogen as quickly as possible.
Climate-neutral hydrogen is needed quickly
The Europeans want to send a strong signal. They want Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent on earth. To this end, they have defined goals that present entire industrial sectors with the greatest challenge of the century. Companies in the steel, chemical and cement sectors have to reinvent themselves, they have to invest many billions of euros in new plants, while their competitors in many regions of the world continue to produce as before with depreciated plants.
Read more: Are e-fuels a clean alternative to cars? No, says science.
An indispensable prerequisite for success is that climate-neutral hydrogen is available in gigantic quantities within a very short period of time. Only with climate-neutral hydrogen can the production of steel, cement or fertilizers be decarbonized. A significant part of the hydrogen has to be produced in Europe, a large part will have to be imported from other regions of the world.
Anyone who now wants to regulate in detail how hydrogen electrolysis is to be carried out in Europe is slowing down the development of a hydrogen value chain before it has even started.
The EU Commission is also proving to be cumbersome in another area. It was more than a year ago that the then federal government submitted several dozen hydrogen projects to the Brussels authorities for funding under the IPCEI rules. IPCEI stands for Important Projects of Common European Interest. Generous state aid regulations apply to projects that the Commission has given the IPCEI stamp to. This opens up ample funding opportunities. The IPCEI funding could pave the way for the entry into the hydrogen age. Many companies are eagerly awaiting the green light from Brussels. But the commission is silent.
The EU Commission has not recognized the signs of the times. It hinders entry into the age of climate-neutral industrial value creation. That’s a scandal. It is astonishing that the Member States accept this.
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