Europe is betting on emissions-free electricity for big industry in its economic recovery package, drafting measures to scale up the production of hydrogen. The world’s most climate-ambitious stimulus package to be unveiled on Wednesday is poised to earmark tens of billions of euros for hydrogen technology as well as infrastructure for clean energy. European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen is set to build her coronavirus economic rescue plan around the Green Deal that aims for climate neutrality by 2050.
Hydrogen is emerging as a fuel of the future in a growing number of European countries, including the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal. The region is well positioned for it thanks to its natural gas infrastructure, which can be used to transport hydrogen. The European Union’s growing renewable energy output could also be used for emission-free production of the fuel. “The goal of net-zero emissions in 2050 implies basically a full decarbonization of the economy,” Noe van Hulst, the hydrogen envoy for the Dutch government, said in an interview. “Clean hydrogen is an indispensable climate-neutral energy carrier, in addition to green electricity.”
The EU economic package will include a proposal for the bloc’s next trillion-euro budget for the years 2021-2027 and a “recovery instrument” of at least half-a-trillion euros designed to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus outbreak.