Europe’s goal to be a net-zero emissions continent by 2050 received a boost today with the launch of the European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center (EGHAC). Led by EIT InnoEnergy, and supported by Breakthrough Energy – an initiative founded by Bill Gates, the Center aims to help facilitate a €100 billion annual economy in green hydrogen by 2025.
Earlier this year a study: Hydrogen Economy Outlook, by BloombergNEF (BNEF), set out a future where the widespread adoption of hydrogen power delivers an emissions reduction of 34% by 2050.“Hydrogen has potential to become the fuel that powers a clean economy,” said Kobad Bhavnagri, head of industrial decarbonization for BNEF and lead author of the report.
And we reported in 2018 that Japan was busy building a hydrogen society.
Now Europe is positioning itself to join this acceleration towards hydrogen. With the low-emissions power source going to be key to advancing the EU Green Deal and the EU’s climate neutral economy ambitions. And to reducing dependence on €320 billion of fossil fuel imports every year.
“The European Union’s Green Deal is the perfect launching pad for the European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center,” said Ann Mettler, senior director at Breakthrough Energy. “Building on the political momentum, the Center will use green hydrogen as a driver for the deep decarbonisation of European industry. Against this backdrop, it will create a pipeline of pioneering large-scale projects, launch a new generation of public-private partnerships and accelerate the speed of delivery from mega- to gigawatts.”
Jacob Ruiter, member of EIT InnoEnergy Executive Board, added: “The commercialisation of green hydrogen is absolutely vital if Europe is to achieve its ambitious goals of becoming the first net-zero continent by 2050. Quite simply, there is no better way of decarbonising heavy industry and heavy transport, and it can also play a significant role in supporting grid flexibility through storage.”
