European Hydrogen Bank
ENVE-VII/040
European Hydrogen Bank
The main objective of this opinion is to provide recommendations on how to improve the services of the European Hydrogen Bank from the point of view of local and regional authorities.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- underlines that the creation of a renewable hydrogen economy is an essential building block to reach the Green Deal objectives and to decarbonise energy intensive industrial activities, heavy transports and urban areas, especially in carbon-intensive regions and cities;
- recalls that renewable hydrogen is the only sustainable form of hydrogen compatible with the Green Deal ambitions and stresses that the EHB instrument must aim at lowering production costs of renewable hydrogen and at stimulating the creation of new employment opportunities;
- stresses the need to boost the EU infrastructure for the production, storage, transport, distribution and consumption of hydrogen across all the EU. EHB auctions can be organised per sector, allowing a level playing field among competitors with similar cost structures and requirements;
- welcomes the concept of "auctions as a service"; reiterates the importance of geographical balance to enable the production and use of renewable hydrogen across the EU; urges the Commission to develop macro-regional auctions and, for that purpose, define macro-regions that would be sufficiently large to secure adequate competition while ensuring geographical balance;
- invites the European Commission to promote future auctions for zero-emission mobility, especially for long-haul mobility such as trains, planes, trucks, lorries and ships;
- considers that LRAs will act as facilitators for the development of the hydrogen economy. In order to fully tap into this facilitation role, supporting instruments need to be put in place to provide additional technical assistance and capacity building to LRAs and remove legal obstacles;
- calls for a further improvement to the future budget, to incentivise a bigger spread of the market, and to better support industrial sectors where the cost of transition will be higher;
- strongly invites the European Commission to consider more resources would be needed for the EHB calls as well as for their implementation by LRAs, in terms of capabilities related to technical and/or administrative expertise.
- underlines that the creation of a renewable hydrogen economy is an essential building block to reach the Green Deal objectives and to decarbonise energy intensive industrial activities, heavy transports and urban areas, especially in carbon-intensive regions and cities;
- recalls that renewable hydrogen is the only sustainable form of hydrogen compatible with the Green Deal ambitions and stresses that the EHB instrument must aim at lowering production costs of renewable hydrogen and at stimulating the creation of new employment opportunities;
- stresses the need to boost the EU infrastructure for the production, storage, transport, distribution and consumption of hydrogen across all the EU. EHB auctions can be organised per sector, allowing a level playing field among competitors with similar cost structures and requirements;
- welcomes the concept of "auctions as a service"; reiterates the importance of geographical balance to enable the production and use of renewable hydrogen across the EU; urges the Commission to develop macro-regional auctions and, for that purpose, define macro-regions that would be sufficiently large to secure adequate competition while ensuring geographical balance;
- invites the European Commission to promote future auctions for zero-emission mobility, especially for long-haul mobility such as trains, planes, trucks, lorries and ships;
- considers that LRAs will act as facilitators for the development of the hydrogen economy. In order to fully tap into this facilitation role, supporting instruments need to be put in place to provide additional technical assistance and capacity building to LRAs and remove legal obstacles;
- calls for a further improvement to the future budget, to incentivise a bigger spread of the market, and to better support industrial sectors where the cost of transition will be higher;
- strongly invites the European Commission to consider more resources would be needed for the EHB calls as well as for their implementation by LRAs, in terms of capabilities related to technical and/or administrative expertise.
