Germany has called for a relaxation of the “strict definition” of green hydrogen and urged a pragmatic review of the rules at EU level.
New German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche expressed support for greater flexibility on hydrogen. In a ministry statement, officials said there is a need to provide clarity for industry and proposed replacing current electrolysers targets (10 GW by 2030) with flexible goals tied to specific projects.
Germany’s push to relax EU rules on green hydrogen comes alongside a new monitoring report outlining targets for climate neutrality and maintaining competitiveness. The report warns that strict criteria for renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs) could slow the roll-out of new H2 projects.
Rules on additionality and on temporal and geographic correlation, the ministry says, increase production costs and would delay hydrogen project development if applied too rigidly. The European Parliament recently called on the Commission to reassess the delegated act, arguing that the current framework limits scaling and keeps costs unnecessarily high.
The ministry’s position states it does not intend to be bound by the RFNBO definition for green hydrogen, and that low-carbon hydrogen will be treated equally.
