Focus area

Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can store and deliver usable energy, and a crucial feedstock for various industrial sectors.

While its combustion produces no greenhouse gases, the production of hydrogen can have varying degrees of associated greenhouse gas emissions. 

  • Electrolytic hydrogen should only be produced from additional renewable electricity, linked to when and where it is being generated.

  • The amount of greenhouse gasses emitted to produce hydrogen, regardless of technology or feedstock, must be central to assessing the climate impact of hydrogen. 

Currently, the vast majority of hydrogen produced worldwide is “grey” hydrogen, produced using fossil gas and generating large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable hydrogen, or “green” hydrogen, has the potential for very low associated carbon emissions but requires large amounts of renewable electricity to be produced. This renewable electricity demand must be met with additional renewable capacity, and must be produced and consumed simultaneously, and in the same areas. If not, “green” hydrogen production cannibalises existing renewable electricity needed to decarbonise the power grid and support the phase-out of coal and gas through direct electrification. It therefore shifts emissions to a different place in the wider system instead of reducing them. 

“Blue” hydrogen is produced through the same process as grey hydrogen (i.e., by reforming natural gas), but it is paired with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and has the potential to be low-carbon. Whether this potential is realised depends on the amount of upstream methane emissions resulting from natural gas extraction and transportation, as well as the share of CO2 emissions resulting from hydrogen production that cannot be captured and permanently stored. To be considered low-carbon, these emission sources, as well as other potential points of emissions along the entire value chain, must be kept to an absolute minimum, strictly monitored, and regulated. 

Substituting “grey” hydrogen and unabated fossil fuels with low-emission hydrogen has great potential for reducing emissions if done right. However, the production of low-emission hydrogen must be paired with renewable energy sources and careful management of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the entire value chain. 

Figure 1: Producing Hydrogen from Electricity

Hydrogen 101

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Hydrogen DRI for Steel in a Resource-Constrained Europe: How Much Renewable Electricity is Needed to Decarbonise the Sector with Green Hydrogen

The European Union (EU) is the world’s second largest steel producer after China, with an annual production capacity of about 150 million metric tons in 2021 and home to over 500 steel production sites in 22 member states1. The sector is a vital component of the EU’s economy, directly providing jobs for around 310.000 people and many more in downstream sectors of the steel value chain, such as construction or the automotive industry. It contributes some €125 billion to the EU’s GDP annually1. Importantly, steel is an indispensable material for various parts of the energy transition, such as wind turbines, solar power plants, electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure and energy storage systems. 

Methodology for Assessing Hydrogen and Electrolyser Candidate PCI/PMI Projects 2022-2023 Exercise

Bellona welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the methodology for assessing hydrogen and electrolyser candidate PCI/PMI projects within the TEN-E framework. Building on our previous contributions to this process on hydrogen infrastructure needs and the 1st Union List of Candidate Projects, we commend the Commission’s recognition of the role of hydrogen as a decarbonisation tool for hard-to-abate sectors where alternative decarbonisation pathways may not be feasible or economic and aspiration to assess candidate projects for a trans-European hydrogen infrastructure and electrolysers against that background.  

Consultation Response – H2 Global – Market Consultation: Products, Quantities, Criteria

Ramping up global renewable hydrogen production to secure imports for Germany Bellona welcomes the ongoing efforts by countries to decarbonise and displace unabated fossil fuel use through new technologies, energy systems and carriers. Hydrogen undoubtedly has a key role to play in these efforts. As an energy vector, rather than a source, however, renewable hydrogen is reliant on immense amounts of renewable electricity to approximate the supply needed for a successful and rapid transformation. Bellona, therefore, firmly believes that in the medium-term, hydrogen applications should be as limited as possible, to those that cannot be directly electrified or have no other means for climate mitigation.

Consultation Response – REPowerEU chapters in the Recovery and Resilience Plans

Together with other decarbonisation strategies, REPowerEU chapters in policies such as the Recovery and Resilience plans should be designed to kickstart additional renewable energy deployment and focus on energy efficiency to create a more resilient and clean energy system. Boosting energy efficiency, and supporting key cross-border infrastructure and renewable generation needs to be prioritised instead of investments in fossil gas and circumventing basic sustainability criteria.

Consultation Response – Renewable energy projects: permit-granting processes & power-purchase agreements

Bellona supports the enhanced ambition of the Commission for speeding up permitting granting for renewables in the EU. However, the full potential of this strategy can be achieved by supporting Member States with the ensuring enough staff is available to ensure the permitting process is dealt within deadlines without compromising the quality of environmental impact assessments, and creating a systematic support for offshore wind such as the one foreseen for rooftop PV.

Consultation Response – Rules for RFNBO and RCF production

Bellona Europa welcomes the ongoing efforts by the European Commission, and the invitation to provide views, feedback and recommendations on the published draft proposal to the Delegated act on the method for assessing greenhouse gas emission savings for recycled carbon fuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin. We welcome the intention of the Commission to assess all fuels according to their full impacts across their entire lifecycle.

Feedback on the delegated acts of REDII

The revised Renewable Energy Directive (REDII), adopted in 2018, establishes a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources in various sectors. In order to ensure these fuels are indeed contributing to the climate goals of the EU, the GHG methodology for RFNBOs and RCFs used in the transport sector should give clear definitions and guidance for calculations in order to avoid misinterpretation and to ensure that all the relevant climate impacts of the fuels are counted.

Bellona Europa Reality Check: The ‘Power to Liquids’ Trap

With its Clean Energy Package, the EU is on the verge of repeating costly energy and climate policy failures of the recent past. Attempting to provide a low-carbon transport fuel replacement alternative to conventional biofuels, the European Commission in its revision of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) proposes a 2030 target for ‘low-emission and renewable fuels’. The proposed target includes so-called ‘’renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin’’. This opens the door for massive public subsidies for synthetic fossil fuels, i.e. renewable hydrogen mixed with fossil CO2 from emitting industries covered by the EU ETS.

BellonaBrief: Brexit Implications on Climate, Energy and Environment

On 24 June 2016 the United Kingdom voted 52% to 48% in a referendum to leave the European Union. Many resources are now likely to be diverted from running the EU and progressing important policies toward instead managing and negotiating the referendum implications. While many uncertainties and questions remain to be addressed, one thing remains certain: Bellona has championed environmental and climate protection in Europe from outside EU membership for over 20 years and will continue to do so. While domestic implications for the UK remain unclear, NGOs’ voices in Europe will continue to be heard.

Bellona response to the consultation on the preparation of a new renewable energy directive for the period after 2020

The EU has been a central driving force in the broader adoption of renewable energy technologies worldwide. Policy landmarks such as the EU 2050 Roadmap and the initial EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) have helped stake direction and secure cost reductions across technologies such as wind and solar power, benefiting markets also outside the EU. Embarking on the REDII (2020-30), the global context is altered, with COP21 mobilising a joint and increased emphasis on global decarbonisation with particular view to adoption of RES as a key path. In its response to the European Commission's consultation, Bellona provides feedback and recommendations focusing on support scheme design for new RES development; consumer empowerment and in particular the revision of the Guarantees of Origin scheme; increasing the use of renewables in the transport sector and fostering electro-mobility; and last but not least on the benefits of and ways of fostering the uptake of third generation (marine) biofuels.

Where will the energy storage mega trend lead us?

Bellona sees energy storage as a required piece of the decarbonisation puzzle. The technology will rapidly become an integral part of European electricity supply systems. The huge disruptive effect of energy storage to the existing energy market is being driven by two trends: the need for energy storage to optimise the deployment of renewable energy sources on the one hand, and the high return potential for manufactures, operators and home owners, on the other. This report was launched at the high-level event 'Energy storage - the inevitable disruption' Bellona hosted on 7 December 2015, on board the 'Race for Water' solar vessel moored on the Seine during the decisive COP 21 climate conference.

Feedback to the Commission’s proposal for revision of the EU ETS

The IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report makes clear the necessity of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and negative emissions, attained via Bio-CCS, in halting global average temperature rise below 2°C. The Report warns that the exclusion of this technology from the mitigation portfolio would entail abatement costs more than doubling. Moreover, it is clear that the large emissions from energy-intensive industries like steel, cement and chemicals cannot be deeply reduced without CCS. In the light of these facts, the slow deployment of CCS in Europe is reason for great concern. Bellona, therefore, sees the Innovation Fund design as a crucial factor to enable strategic CCS deployment.

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The people involved

Arianna Avallone

Policy Assistant, Energy Systems & Electricity Grids

arianna@bellona.org +39 34 56 06 13 80

Ganni Vassallo

Policy Advisor, Electricity Grids

ganni@bellona.org +32 (0) 456 616 195

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