The European Union’s plans to include natural gas pipeline projects that could be converted to carry hydrogen in the EU’s multi-billion-euro program for subsidies to crucial infrastructure projects is support for major fossil gas producers, environmental organizations say. The EU is set to debate and decide in the coming weeks which energy infrastructure projects to include in the so-called list of Projects of Common Interest PCI, which are entitled to billions of euros of EU support.
The EU's renewables strategy includes the ambition to produce 10 million tons and import 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen in the EU by the end of this decade. Earlier this year, the leaders of some of Europe’s biggest economies pledged to turn the North Sea into an offshore wind, hydrogen, and carbon capture energy hub. Campaigners have also criticized the recent announcement of the U.S. Administration to extend $7 billion in grants to seven hydrogen hubs across America.