The hydrogen industry had to wait a long time for this: two delegated acts, one on the definition of green hydrogen and one on the calculation methodology of greenhouse gases from eFuels, have now passed the EU Commission. This means that there is finally legal certainty, so that investments can start and the trialogue on RED III can also continue.

"The Commission's decision-making process has taken too long; REDII provided for a deadline of the end of 2021. The resulting uncertainty has been one of the biggest obstacles to the market ramp-up of hydrogen in the past two years," comments Peter Müller-Baum, Managing Director VDMA Power-to-X for Applications. The long wait is now over, but the bureaucratic hurdles remain high.

On the positive side, the principle of additionality has been made much more flexible for the time of the market ramp-up. The principle of temporal correlation was also made more flexible, and the use of existing plants is also possible until 2038. The principle of temporal correlation was also made more flexible. Until the end of 2029, the calendar month is considered to be the temporal correlation; from January 1, 2030, an hourly correlation between the electrolyzer and the contracted RE plant must then be proven. With the present proposal, the EU Commission has in this respect responded to essential demands of the hydrogen industry.

The second delegated act that has now been adopted is particularly relevant because it defines the permissible CO₂ sources for the production of renewable fuels of non-biogenic origin (RFNBOs) and also eFuels. VDMA welcomes the fact that, according to the adopted methodology for calculating GHG emissions for renewable fuels of non-biogenic origin (RFNBOs) and eFuels, CO₂ from unavoidable industrial emissions can now also be "recycled" for the production of eFuels until 2041.

However, the requirement that eFuels may only be imported into the EU from countries with an "effective" CO₂ pricing mechanism narrows the emerging global P2X market. Important future producing countries in e.g. Africa or South America are unnecessarily excluded from this market. However, the word "effective" has not been defined yet.

It is now up to the EU Council and the European Parliament to either approve or reject the two delegated acts. Neither institution has the right to amend them.