European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, and German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Habeck, agreed to link the new European Hydrogen Bank with Germany’s H2Global support scheme, meaning H2Global will be open to all EU Member States interested in running their own hydrogen tenders. The Bank and the German initiative will also jointly develop a European auction targeting international hydrogen imports. Thus, the import pillar of the bank takes shape.

As Hydrogen Europe reported, after assigning an €800 million budget for the first pilot auction of the domestic European Hydrogen Bank, to be launched before the end of the year, agreement sets in motion the Bank’s external pillar for the much-needed imports of renewable hydrogen from outside the EU.

“Hydrogen is key for the full decarbonisation of our energy system, alongside energy efficiency, renewables, and electrification. EU’s renewable hydrogen policy has developed rapidly in recent years, and the RePowerEU Plan has given it a definite boost. I am glad to see that Germany is the first mover in setting up an international auction. We are ready to build on this experience and develop the first European auction with the European Hydrogen Bank, open to all EU countries”, said Commissioner Simson.

“We definitely need this step forward in order to remain credible with the implementation of the EU Hydrogen Strategy”, said Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe. “We will need more renewable hydrogen than we can produce inside the EU in the required timeframe, particularly for the hardest to abate sectors. And we also need it at a competitive price”, he added.

For his part, Daniel Fraile, Chief Policy Officer at Hydrogen Europe, explained that “we need speed, determination and a strong EU policy to kick-start the European hydrogen industry. Otherwise, we will fall behind and the competitive and abundant renewable hydrogen will flow to other industrial regions. Let’s hope that the new body can start its operation quickly and set the first auction in the next months”.