The new EU investment criteria for hydrogen and natural gas have been roundly criticized by Germany’s climate and environment ministers.
EU rules for sustainable investment should not include intermediate targets for hydrogen, according to German environment minister Steffi Lemke and climate minister Robert Habeck in a joint statement. They argued that these benchmarks are “not realistically achievable.”
With regard to sustainable investments, the European Commission’s draft proposal includes gas and nuclear energy as possibilities for green investments.
From 2026 to 2030, the EU has proposed that at least 30 percent of the gas supply should be hydrogen or low-carbon gas.
Over the next 15 years, new EU investment plans aim to increase the use of hydrogen as a means of decarbonizing the gas market. In contrast, according to Habeck and Lemke, hydrogen should only be used to decarbonize the production processes of heavy industries.
Hydrogen should not be “wasted” as a general energy source for heating homes, according to the German industry association BDI, which voiced its concerns about EU plans earlier this week.
Natural gas currently accounts for 96% of all hydrogen production. As a result, it produces as much carbon dioxide as gasoline and is even more polluting than natural gas when burned.
An estimated 0.03 percent of all hydrogen produced worldwide currently comes from renewable sources, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Projects that focus on decarbonizing steel and chemical industries are prevalent, while 12 projects focus on developing fuel-cell systems for vehicles and refueling infrastructure.
For gas-fired plants, the European Commission has also proposed a green label for those that replace older models and achieve a 55% reduction in emissions.
