“Hydrogen has huge potential. It is fundamental for us to achieve our ambitious climate protection goals”, said Angelika Niebler MEP, EPP Group Spokeswoman on the hydrogen strategy.
Today, the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee is voting on a hydrogen strategy for a climate-neutral Europe. Its main aim is to create a strategic roadmap, an investment agenda, to help boost demand and scale up the production of hydrogen.
“We need hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels, especially to reduce CO2 in energy-intensive industries such as steel, chemicals or cement. We want rapid market development which is only possible with low-carbon hydrogen, such as that produced by carbon capture and storage. We will not achieve the climate targets with hydrogen from renewable energies alone”, declared Niebler.
The production capacities for hydrogen in Europe are still far too small. The EPP Group has been calling on the European Commission and all stakeholders to create an enabling environment for a massive expansion of hydrogen production in Europe. This is the only way forward to create a functioning market and thus competitive prices.
The European Commission estimates that by 2050, investments of up to €470 billion could be necessary for renewable hydrogen alone.
“Europe is in a good starting position for this. Our European manufacturers of electrolysis technology are global leaders and we have ambitious goals for the expansion of the necessary renewable energies. The right incentives must be set now, so that private and public investors invest in all relevant technologies along the hydrogen value chain. We have to ensure that small and medium-sized companies in particular have access to financing options and the necessary technology in this development. But above all, we must recognise, at this point in time, that gas remains important as a bridging technology”, concluded Niebler.
The results of today’s vote will be announced this afternoon.