Hydrogen Europe urges stronger green fertiliser measures in EU Action Plan

Hydrogen Europe has called on the European Commission to strengthen measures supporting low-carbon fertilisers under the bloc’s newly adopted Fertiliser Action Plan.

Unveiled this week, the plan aims to address high costs, reinforce domestic production, reduce reliance on imports, and accelerate uptake of low-carbon fertilisers across Europe. However, the trade body criticised its lack of a certification mechanism and associated criteria.

While it said the plan is a step in the right direction, it argued certification and criteria are needed to support demand creation and better align the EU fertiliser market.

It also welcomed the Commission’s decision not to further alter the scope of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism for fertilisers, saying regulatory certainty is important for the viability of clean fertiliser projects.

Laurent Donceel, Director for Transport, Sustainability, and Industrial Policy at Hydrogen Europe, commended the plan as a forward step while saying it “stops short of creating the scale, certainty, and price signals needed.”

Green ammonia continues to gain traction and demand as a decarbonisation pathway for the fertiliser sector, but as with other derivatives, production continues to be dominated by fossil fuel-based processes.

Various bodies have launched schemes aimed at aligning the verification of low-carbon ammonia to improve transparency, de-risk investment decisions and aid cross-border trade.

However, these schemes have generally lacked authority, remaining voluntary and independently verified.

In April, the Ammonia Energy Association in partnership with non-profit methane regulation organisation MiQ.