EU close to finalising low-carbon hydrogen definition
The European Commission is now close to finalising the long-awaited EU definition of low-carbon hydrogen after announcing a final four-month public consultation on Friday (27 September).
Regarding hydrogen, a clean-burning fuel that will partly be used to replace natural gas and remains a key input for the chemical industry, EU definitions matter.
The European Union’s legislative framework on renewables requires companies to gradually switch to clearly defined ‘green’ hydrogen, a concept over which there has been years of wrangling.
The definition of ‘low-carbon’ hydrogen can be similarly tricky and is now entering into its hot phase.
Low-carbon fuels may play a role in the energy transition, particularly in the short and medium term,
writes the European Commission as it launched its consultation.
The EU’s executive proposes that hydrogen can be considered ‘low-carbon’ if it only emit 30% of the emissions of the fuel it is replacing.
The ‘low-carbon’ label is key to the EU’s new gas market rules, such as securing access to transport infrastructure.
There are three proposed methods for calculating carbon-hydrogen emissions, all of which relate to the carbon intensity of the electricity used to produce the hydrogen, are proposed.
The first method is based on the CO2 intensity of a country’s electricity mix. This approach favours countries with a high share of nuclear power. For example, the proposal gives France a CO2 grid factor that is six times lower than that of Germany.
Alternatively, hydrogen producers can time their production to coincide with the periods when renewables or nuclear power set the price of electricity, as a CO2 penalty factor would otherwise apply. This approach would favour hydrogen production at times when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, but only then.
Finally, the exact CO2 intensity of the regional power grid can be factored in, provided grid operators offer this level of granular information.
Jens Geier, the German SPD (S&D) MEP responsible for the new gas market rules, said:
Even if the Commission’s current proposal still leaves room for improvement in some areas, the delegated act will give producers and users the legal certainty they urgently need,
Geier told Euractiv,
It will be important to maintain the necessary flexibility in order to be able to make any necessary improvements,
Once the consultation period is over, the European Commission presents a final proposal, which can be rejected by a qualified majority of EU countries or by a simple European Parliament majority.
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EU close to finalising low-carbon hydrogen definition, source
