At the Renewable Hydrogen Summit held today, Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen reaffirmed the European Commission’s commitment to scaling up renewable hydrogen in Europe. The event highlighted calls from the Renewable Hydrogen Coalition (RHC) for a “New Deal” for the sector to help Europe maintain its first-mover advantage amid growing global competition. The Summit’s Declaration emphasized that renewable hydrogen has a unique role in strengthening Europe’s energy resilience, decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors, and maintaining leadership in the clean technologies of the future, which will also create new jobs for Europeans.
The sector has expanded rapidly in recent years, with electrolyser manufacturing capacity projected to increase from 1 GW to 10 GW in operation soon, and further rising to 15 GW by 2026. Production projects are also increasing in scale. However, leaders warned that firm demand and viable business cases remain limited without stronger policy support. RHC Co-chair Ana Quelhas, Chief Hydrogen and Data Center Officer at EDP Renewables, stressed the need to convert ambition into tangible results. She highlighted that Europe’s renewable hydrogen sector requires supportive frameworks to drive demand, coupled with schemes that reward scalable, investment-ready projects and address the real cost gap through flexible and cumulative funding.
Co-chair Kim Hedegaard, CEO Power-to-X at Topsoe, emphasized that Europe’s lead in hydrogen innovation alone is insufficient for achieving manufacturing leadership and commercial scaling. He called for prioritizing Made-in-EU cleantech in funding calls and procurement, and for non-price criteria such as resilience, sustainability, and local content to be applied in EU funding schemes. The Summit Declaration outlined several urgent actions for policymakers, including creating effective demand incentives for products made with renewable hydrogen, enhancing supply, developing electricity and hydrogen infrastructure, and ensuring public funding supports the sector’s growth to meet EU targets.
In line with these priorities, the European Commission announced the launch of the third auction under the European Hydrogen Bank, backed by a €1.3 billion EU budget. National contributions will further strengthen this initiative, with Spain adding €415 million and Germany matching the EU’s budget with an additional €1.3 billion, bringing the total funding for this round to over €3 billion. These contributions underscore the Hydrogen Bank’s growing role in supporting domestic renewable hydrogen projects, and the RHC has invited other Member States to follow suit.
RHC leaders also called on like-minded companies and organizations to join the coalition and advocate for policies that accelerate the sector’s growth, especially in the face of pressures to weaken existing climate and energy policies or promote technology-neutral approaches. Industry leaders reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating investment and advancing mature projects, provided Europe implements the recommended measures that reflect renewable hydrogen’s strategic importance for industrial growth, climate objectives, and energy security.
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