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HYDROGEN EUROPE RESEARCH

HER

We represent the European scientific community involved in the development of a new, industrial ecosystem based on hydrogen and committed to moving towards a circular, carbon-neutral economy.

Lobbying Activity

Response to European strategy on research and technology infrastructures

21 May 2025

The European Commission has recognised the value of hydrogen, not only towards its goal of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, but also to strengthen its industrial competitiveness, energetic resilience, and strategic sovereignty. To meet the targets laid out in its regulatory and funding framework (Green Deal, REPowerEU, RED III, Fit for 55, Net Zero Industry Act), the EU must rapidly develop and scale a variety of hydrogen technologies. This requires strong, coordinated support for Research and Technology Infrastructures (RTIs), which are essential for bridging the gap between research, innovation, and market deployment. RTIs are critical components of the European innovation ecosystem. Research Infrastructures (RIs) focus on fundamental and applied science, while Technology Infrastructures (TIs) enable the development, testing, and upscaling of new technologies. These infrastructures must be accessible, well-funded, and aligned with industrial needs. Yet, many stakeholders face challenges in accessing suitable facilities. A 2024 survey revealed that over 90% of companies working on electrolysers and fuel cells lack adequate TIs, citing poor availability, complex access, and low industrial relevance. The EU must support infrastructure for various types of hydrogen technologies: standardised, mass-producible components (Type 1), more complex systems (Type 2), and fully customised plant-scale solutions (Type 3). Each requires different infrastructure capabilities, services, and policy support. Harmonised testing protocols, certification standards, and improved regulatory frameworks are also necessary to accelerate deployment. Despite significant EU investment under programmes, challenges remain. Funding is fragmented, infrastructure is unevenly distributed, and many TIs operate without long-term planning or coordination. Policy makers should promote a European strategy that pools funding at multiple levels (EU, national, regional, private), supports long-term operational sustainability, and addresses regulatory and investment gaps. A dedicated EU funding instrument for TIs could accelerate development and improve resilience. Awareness and accessibility are further barriers. Many stakeholders lack knowledge of existing infrastructures or face unclear access conditions, high fees, or concerns over IP and data security. Improving transparency, simplifying access, and offering user-oriented support such as training in innovation management and technology transfer will be key to increasing utilisation. A technology-type-focused and regionally anchored approach can build stronger innovation ecosystems around industrial clusters, enhancing relevance and impact. TIs must be agile and responsive to fast-changing technology landscapes to match infrastructure services with various needs. Close collaboration between industry and infrastructure operators will help ensure that services meet real-world needs. Remote access and digital platforms should also be expanded to overcome geographic limitations and foster broader participation. In conclusion, Hydrogen Europe Research fully supports the key challenges and priorities outlined by the European Commission. To complement this, Hydrogen Europe Research wishes to share its knowledge on existing RTIs and its more complete view on identified areas of intervention that the future European strategy on RTIs should address. Focusing on hydrogen, current and future technologies are central to the EU's climate and industrial strategies, as such, their success depends on better coordinated, accessible, and relevant RTIs.
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Meeting with Christian Ehler (Member of the European Parliament)

20 May 2025 · Hydrogen

Meeting with Christian Ehler (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Apr 2025 · Hydrogen

Meeting with Ivo Belet (Cabinet of Commissioner Dubravka Šuica)

28 Jan 2025 · Hydrogen production technology.

Response to Net Zero Industry Act

30 May 2023

Hydrogen Europe Research welcomes and fully supports the goals outlined in the Net Zero Industry Act. This legislation establishes vital objectives that aim to foster the growth of the fuel cells and hydrogen sector, ultimately benefiting the European economy. To further advance these endeavors, Hydrogen Europe Research proposes expanding the scope of the Net Zero Industry Act to encompass the entire hydrogen value chain. Simultaneously, it is imperative to maintain support for research at lower technological readiness levels. Facilitating the development of technological infrastructures within the framework of the NZIA would enhance the comprehensiveness of the approach. Additionally, engaging with sectoral experts and local partners when developing is essential to implement those academies successfully. Lastly, careful scrutiny of European policies is needed to ensure that the sector's progress and ambitions set out in the NZIA regulation are not impeded or halted by conflicting proposals that undermine or hinder the growth of the sector.
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Response to European Critical Raw Materials Act

25 Nov 2022

Hydrogen Europe Research welcomes the consultation opened ahead of the publication of the European Critical Raw Materials Act proposal. Indeed, materials research is an important research field for fuel cells and hydrogen. Reducing the use of critical raw materials and improving the performances of technologies whilst reducing their overall costs are key challenges across the hydrogen value chain. Characterising the behaviour of current and novel materials in contact with hydrogen is relevant for many technologies: electrolysers, above- and underground hydrogen storage, gas grid components, hydrogen carriers, hydrogen refuelling stations, fuel cells, onboard hydrogen storage, hydrogen combustion, etc. Therefore funding activities in materials characterisation and research should be a priority at European level. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has identified this topic as a Strategic Research Challenge for the storage of hydrogen, however further support will be required for other segments of the value chain to develop truly sustainable hydrogen technologies. Whilst researchers are working on reducing and/or substituting critical raw materials in hydrogen technologies, simultaneous efforts must be made to develop reusing, recovering and recycling of these materials in the EU. Such processes will be essential to establish a sustainable and resilient hydrogen ecosystem in the EU. You will find more information about relevant critical raw materials for the hydrogen value chain in the position paper attached.
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Response to Communication on revamping the SET Plan

2 Nov 2022

Fuel cells and hydrogen has become an increasingly relevant policy topic on the European stage. The European Green Deal made hydrogen an essential element to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Following its adoption, a hydrogen strategy was developed in July 2020 to set a path for the rollout and upscaling of hydrogen and related technologies. Since 2020, several policy proposals have been instrumental in making this strategy a reality and some of them are still in the making. More recently, and tightly linked to the energy crisis, the REPowerEU Plan has considerably heightened the European ambitions for the roll out of hydrogen production. All these developments show the relevance of hydrogen in the energy system and consequently the importance for Europe to stay at the forefront of research and innovation in this field. Key fora are already well established on the European stage to promote cooperation among actors of the hydrogen and fuel cells ecosystem, among them, the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, Clean Hydrogen Alliance or the Green Hydrogen ERA pilot initiative. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership in which Hydrogen Europe Research partners, offers a structured cooperation where industry and research meet to trustfully elaborate funding priorities on research and innovation in the field of fuel cells and hydrogen. Its achievements are concrete thanks to a dedicated budget allocated to the development of projects based on the priorities jointly elaborated by the three members: researchers, industry players and the European Commission. Based on our experience in this partnership, we believe that the FCH community should also play an active role in the process at stake here. Therefore, Hydrogen Europe Research welcomes the opportunity to provide its view on the European Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan. The SET Plan is a pertinent initiative to coordinate research and innovation efforts among Member States, and to provide a discussion platform for alignment of research activities at national levels. Currently the topic of hydrogen and fuel cells is covered in the SET Plan via a broader implementation Working Group (IWG) on Renewable fuels and bioenergy. The cross-sectoral nature of hydrogen explains this choice, however, we believe that, in line with the conclusion 4 of the SET Plan Interim Evaluation, a dedicated IWG on hydrogen would increase the visibility of the hydrogen sector and allow a much broader acceptance and participation of Member States to align their national policies and efforts on hydrogen and fuel cells. In order to avoid duplications and foster synergies among the European hydrogen initiatives, several points should be of attention when developing this IWG: Participants in this initiative should be representatives from relevant ministries (Research, Science, Education depending on the existing portfolio) and national funding agencies. The involvement of ministries is essential to ensure linking with national policies. To this date, there is no equivalent initiative for hydrogen covering all European countries. The IWG should engage with the Clean Hydrogen Partnership to promote synergies between the European and the national level. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership would be involved in the IWG workshops to share information about the activities at European level. On the other hand, members of the IWG would liaise with the State Representative Group of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership to ensure a coordinated approach across the different fora. The SRIA of the Green Hydrogen ERA pilot initiative published in March 2022 should be used as a reference document for these activities. Further alignment with the SRIA of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership should also be ensured. The focus on low TRL activities (1 to 3) would be relevant to complement the activities of the Joint Undertaking. We remain available to further discuss the best way to involve the hydrogen community in the SET-Plan process.
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Meeting with Mohammed Chahim (Member of the European Parliament) and industriAll European Trade Union

5 Jul 2022 · Fit for 55

Meeting with Henrik Hololei (Director-General Mobility and Transport)

16 Mar 2022 · RLCF, AFIR

Response to Social and labour aspects of the climate transition

19 Nov 2021

Together Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research wish to highlight the labour opportunities offered by the hydrogen sector in the transition towards a climate neutral economy, as well as the challenges ahead for the sector. The roadmap for the rollout of hydrogen in Europe is fast paced, with the sector poised for rapid expansion over the coming years to meet the ambitious 2030 and 2050 targets, while creating huge economic and employment opportunities for the whole European Union. With this rapid development the European hydrogen value chain is expected to employ more than one million people by 2030, and up to 5.4 million by 2050. Ensuring that workers will have the requested skills for the hydrogen sector is a central concern for companies. This is a specific challenge for SMEs that are not in the capacity to invest massively in up-skilling and reskilling of their workforce. Regions that are highly dependent on fossil fuels are also at the forefront of the energy transition and they are particularly concerned by the adaptation and preparation of the workforce to sustainable economic activities. The reskilling and/or upskilling of the workforce towards hydrogen activities is both a challenge and an opportunity in transitioning regions. This broadly demonstrates that social and labour aspects are essential to make the green transition a reality.
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Meeting with Mariya Gabriel (Commissioner) and

2 Jul 2020 · Horizon Europe and the future partnership Clean Hydrogen for Europe

Response to European Partnership for Clean Hydrogen

27 Aug 2019

Hydrogen Europe (Industry & Research) welcomes the opportunity to give feedback on this inception impact assessment. We support the proposal to create a new, revisited Partnership on Clean Hydrogen under Horizon Europe and the use of an institutionalised European Partnership (IEP) based on Article 187 TFEU (option 2) as it has proven, under horizon 2020, to be the most effective way to address the R&I needs of European companies and research organisations and do so in line with European policy objectives and guidance of the European Commission. It is the view of Hydrogen Europe (Industry & Research) that the previous JUs are responsible for having achieved a level of innovation faster than otherwise would have been the case. It sees the continuation of this model as a key component of any future efforts, both in light of the successes obtained so far and the challenges that lie ahead. An IEP would provide a ring-fenced budget over a long period, enabling the development and implementation of long-term strategies, bringing all industry and all research actors together and enabling them to define and implement long term strategies as a coordinated group. Perhaps more important are the economic benefits to society, and SMEs more particularly. Indeed, as mentioned by the roadmap, a future institutional partnership on hydrogen can be expected to be of strategic importance for their survival and continued success. Secondly, the overall leverage achieved in the FCH JU (i.e. level of private investment compared with EU finding) to date stands at 1.96, compared to 1.09 during the FP7 programme. This leverage effect is forecast to rise to 3.0. Beyond the cooperation expected from an R&D programme, the creation of an IEP has led to many additional coordination efforts: • MoUs with 90+ regions and cities (representing > ¼ of European population and GDP) supporting the implementation of their hydrogen strategy and the recent creation of a S3 platform; • various hydrogen mobility initiatives across Member States (FR, DE, UK, DK, FI, etc.); • better synergies with other European programmes such as CEF, ETS Innovation Fund, etc.; • co-funding with national and regional programmes; and more. We believe these coordination efforts must be sustained and intensified under Horizon Europe. Furthermore, we envisage additional forms of cooperation with other sectors. By their nature, hydrogen and fuel cells are cross-sectoral technologies. This requires a structured cooperation with the renewable sector; with the transport sector (incl. heavy-duty, maritime, etc.) – Hydrogen Europe has signed an MoU with the Waterborne Platform, indicating the common interest to develop hydrogen technologies and systems together -; and with the energy-intensive industries (iron & steel, cement, chemical, refineries, fertilisers, and all industries that require large quantities of high-grade heat that are hard to electrify). The power, heat and gas sectors are also linked, through “power-to-hydrogen/gas/liquid” and a structured cooperation is necessary. New technologies, now producing or using hydrogen have also seen the light of day and should be further pursued, including hydrogen turbines, engines and others. Nevertheless, it is important that the new IEP includes a streamlined, efficient structure. The most effective way to do so is by keeping it focused on the main sector: Hydrogen. Hydrogen Europe (Industry & Research) represents the European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell sector, encompassing of 123 industry companies representing the whole value chain, including OEM and end-users, 71 research organisations and 17 national associations. As such, it naturally represents the interest of the industry and research and while they are very keen to remain at the centre of the partnership and further develop their partnership with the European Commission, the sector is clearly open to develop strong links with these user sectors, and see the need to do so.
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Meeting with Manuel Nobre Goncalves (Cabinet of Commissioner Carlos Moedas), Robert Schröder (Cabinet of Commissioner Carlos Moedas) and Hydrogen Europe

25 Oct 2017 · Hydrogen economy and the need for continued research in this field