Authors
Originally published in Hydrogen Insight
Last week, the CEO of Hydrogen Europe, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, penned an op-ed on this site titled Why EU's draft Low-Carbon Hydrogen Delegated Act is bad for European industry and bad for the planet. We agree with the article that more needs to be done in Europe for green hydrogen to play its role in bolstering energy security and delivering on climate goals. However, as organisations committed to advancing a truly clean hydrogen economy, we don’t agree with the claim that the delegated act is “a strategic blunder that will undermine our climate goals.”
Here’s why.
The delegated act would ensure that only truly low-carbon hydrogen receives support. This is essential for creating a level playing field with renewable hydrogen and to ensure public funds don’t prop up high-carbon projects under the banner of “low-carbon.”
Blue hydrogen is not disqualified as is being claimed. The delegated act sets a performance-based emissions threshold (3.38 kg CO2eq/kg) that fossil-based hydrogen production pathway can meet, as long as it does not source the dirtiest gas with sufficiently low methane emissions and achieves a high CO2 capture rate. If a project fails to meet that threshold, simply put, it isn’t low-carbon and shouldn’t be labelled as such.
Mr. Chatzimarkakis claims that blue hydrogen made with “low-leak” natural gas and 95% CO₂ capture is disqualified. But what is meant by “low leak”?
The proposed methane intensity value for fossil gas is 6.6 g CO₂eq/MJ. Even when adding the 40% penalty, this reflects an unrealistic leakage rate of around 2.3%, significantly below both the global average established by the IEA’s Methane Tracker of 3.2% and far lower than leakage rates seen in some producing regions where direct measurement data show levels as high as 7.8%.
If anything, the Commission’s default value is still too generous. The reality is that many producers would benefit from sticking with the default rather than reporting actual (higher) emissions. Based on up-to-date research and empirical data, the default methane intensity, even before penalties, should be at least 16.4 g CO₂eq/MJ (based on a leakage rate of 3.2% and a Global Warming Potential of 29.8). We should tackle this head-on, not sweep it under the carpet.
Greenwashing dirty hydrogen is not good in the long-term for European industry and it certainly isn’t good for the planet. The latest draft of the EU delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen will go a long way to ensuring Europe leads the way.
Jonas Moberg is CEO of the Green Hydrogen Organisation
Geert De Cock is Energy Manager at T&E
