The European Union (EU) needs to set realistic goals for producing green hydrogen by 2030 and reassess expectations for carbon capture and storage to meet climate targets.
“While we recognize the need to transform the market, we specifically question the feasibility of some clean hydrogen and carbon sequestration ambitions in the short term,” stated the authors of the “2024 Decarbonization Annual Outlook” report released by Carbon Free Europe.
The European Commission aims to produce 10 million tons of clean hydrogen, generated from renewable or nuclear energy, by 2030.
Based on the annual energy report presented by Brussels this September, the production of electrolyzers—necessary to extract hydrogen from water—suggests this target will be met. However, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson clarified that these are “indicative, not binding goals.”
The Carbon Free Europe report questions this pathway, suggesting that “clean hydrogen supply goals exceed demand by 2030, as use cases in transportation and industry are still developing, and the main user of hydrogen today, oil refineries, is declining.”
“Similarly, carbon capture targets for 2030 imply an over-expected deployment of carbon capture technologies. While these 2030 goals may be more than needed in the next six years to stay on track for carbon neutrality, these technologies are crucial for achieving net-zero emissions,” the report adds.
Researchers say policymakers “are right to support creating initial markets for deployment but must also be realistic about short-term prospects.”
They also note that the reuse of captured carbon, the last step in the system, is uncertain since it relies on developing technologies like synthetic fuels, which would be made with clean hydrogen and captured carbon.
Overall, the authors stress the “critical importance of adopting flexible and multifaceted strategies to achieve greenhouse gas emission neutrality by 2050 across Europe.”
They add that while “electrification and deploying renewable energies remain fundamental for decarbonization, achieving these goals will require substantial investments in infrastructure, especially in energy storage, transmission networks, and hydrogen pipelines.”
