The Global Alliance Powerfuels welcomes that on February 10, 2023, following over a year of delay, the European Commission adopted its final proposals of the Delegated Acts (DAs) to define renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs) as set out in Art. 27 and Art. 28 of the revised Renewable Energy Directive (REDII). Both DAs have been urgently awaited, since they define and specify criteria and rules for the eligibility and accounting of different inputs (e.g. electricity, CO2) and production processes for RFNBOs. This is of utmost importance in order to provide the regulatory and investment security needed to ramp up the market for renewable hydrogen and other powerfuels, both within Europe and in export-oriented partner countries.

While the development of regulatory frameworks and incentive mechanisms for hydrogen have gained momentum around the world, the most prominent example being the US Inflation Reduction Act, these fundamental pieces of EU hydrogen legislation have repeatedly been delayed. A further delay is intolerable if the EU wants to achieve its ambitious targets for hydrogen production under REPowerEU. We hence call on the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to refrain from their right to veto and to not further postpone the DAs’ entry into force. Despite some remaining flaws and newly introduced challenges in comparison to earlier drafts, we consider the final proposals to constitute an acceptable compromise, as further clarity on the established criteria and rules was achieved, while allowing for a sufficient degree of flexibility. However, the introduced review processes should be used to improve the Delegated Acts and strengthen the criteria. In particular, the effects of the newly introduced exemption from the additionality principle should be assessed.

For further details on the Global Alliance Powerfuel’s assessment of the adopted Delegated Acts, see our newly published statement: