The European Climate Foundation is providing €116,000 to support a research project carried out jointly with the Institute of Energy Economics (EWI) at the University of Cologne to analyse the European Union's hydrogen-based decarbonization strategy in the face of changing framework conditions. The project "H2 Reality Check - Reappraising the EU's H2 Strategy in a New Era of Geopolitical Disruptions" examines the question of whether the EU's strategic hydrogen ambitions should be re-examined and possibly relaunched in light of the geopolitical and geo-economic upheavals of recent years.
The aim of the joint study is to provide a critical and evidence-based review of the official 2030 hydrogen targets in light of the new conditions in the European and global geopolitical landscape, the EU's economic and financial constraints, and the technological uncertainties in improving energy and cost efficiency. For example, the EU is currently beginning to redefine its political priorities by devoting much more financial resources to security and defense, as well as to relocating some industrial capacities back to Europe in order to reduce risks and promote its own self-sufficiency and autonomy. Energy and cost efficiency could therefore play a much more important role than in the past, as the EU can no longer subsidize its ambitious energy transition towards a fossil fuel-free era as much as before the Ukraine and Gaza wars, a still unclear relationship with China, the current developments on the crude oil market and the upcoming elections in the US. All these new geopolitical and geo-economic developments and conditions will have a major impact on the EU hydrogen strategy as well as on the international hype around hydrogen as the "new silver bullet" to accelerate the decarbonization of global industry.
Due to Dr. Enrico Fels' upcoming parental leave, the project will be led by Dr. Frank Umbach. It is scheduled to run for seven months.