Making the EU climate neutral requires immediate action – this was emphasised at the session “Sectoral integration: shaping EU’s climate-neutral future” at the European Sustainable Energy Week, hosted by EU Turbines, Gas Infrastructure Europe and the Global Alliance Powerfuels. The diverse panel – spanning executives from hydrogen, liquid fuels, gas and power sectors associations – agreed that more action was necessary to enable powerfuels in the EU. Session participants seemed to agree, too. The session was up to that point the most attended one at EUSEW.
Panel participants stressed different advantages of powerfuels – from an energy systems perspective and their ability to facilitate the integration of renewables, to the defossilisation of existing applications and the ability to transport energy over long distances. All agreed however, that current regulatory framework does not acknowledge these advantages enough for powerfuels to become cost-competitive.
Reacting on Global Alliance Powerfuels project leader Christoph Jugel’s gesture to take off the suit and get to action, DG ENER representative Augustijn van Haasteren also followed the gesture. Several other panellists had already come with their sleeves up. Hopefully a signal for (even) more support by the commission in the years to come.
