Powerfuels – green hydrogen as well as gaseous and liquid fuels from power-to-X processes using renewable electricity - will play an indispensable role in achieving the EU’s 2030 climate target of reducing emissions by 55% and, ultimately, the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. In response to Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine, the European Commission has proposed to further accelerate the scale-up of both imports of renewable hydrogen and its production within the EU as part of the REPowerEU plan.
To deliver on these targets, regulatory certainty in terms of the definition and requirements for “renewable fuels of non-biological origin” (RFNBOs) is key. While the revised Renewable Energy Directive (REDII) defines a threshold for greenhouse gas emission savings of at least 70% for RFNBOs, the exact methodology on how to assess these GHG reductions will be specified by the European Commission in a delegated act, a draft of which was published on May 20. The provisions therein are of central importance to pave the way for a sustainable market development of powerfuels, as they can determine the (in)admissibility of certain production pathways and methods.
In order to discuss the central elements of the EU methodology for assessing greenhouse gas emission savings from RFNBOs with regard to their implications for the market ramp-up of green hydrogen, and identify critical points to be addressed in the delegated act, the Global Alliance Powerfuels gathered policy and industry experts in a digital event as part of our “Powerfuels Briefs” series on June 7, 2022.
In the event, Friederike Altgelt, Project Lead of the Global Alliance Powerfuels, and Pascal Hader, Senior Expert at the German Energy Agency (dena), presented their analysis of the draft of the delegated act to Art. 28 REDII. The presentation was followed by a moderated discussion with participants of the event from policy, research and industry.
The Alliance’s presentation from the event is available for download below:
