Energy and Climate Law

This month the German economic ministry produced a first draft of the long-awaited national hydrogen strategy. Germany is a key European country when it comes to hydrogen and the most advanced in Europe in terms of electricity storage via hydrogen, the so called Power-to-Gas technology. The aim of the draft national hydrogen strategy is to boost hydrogen in Germany further and ultimately create a hydrogen economy. The economic minister Peter Altmaier said that Germany wants to become ` world leader for hydrogen technologies ` and the German science minister Anja Karliczek added that hydrogen is ` the oil of tomorrow`. But can the measures described in the new draft hydrogen strategy pave the way? This blog entry is taking a look and explains which are the next steps.

By Dr. Romain Mauger 1.        Introduction On 11 December 2019, the new European Commission presided by Ursula Von der Leyen presented the European Green Deal. The aim for the EU is to become climate-neutral by 2050 and this will require massive investments. The financial part of this Green Deal is the European Green Deal Investment Plan (EGDIP) , revealed on 14 January 2020. This programme should mobilise “at least €1 trillion of sustainable investments ” until 2030 . The graph below shows the split in terms of origin of the money for such investments with half of it to come directly from the EU budget, over a quarter from public and private investments guaranteed by InvestEU, over a 10% from national co-financing, a reduced part from the EU ETS and, in the middle of this vast sum of money, the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM). Source: The European Green Deal Investment Plan and Just Transition Mechanism explained, EC, Brussels, 14 January 2020, p. 1.