Greenwashed hydrogen

The briefing examines how industry lobby groups, including Hydrogen Europe and Global Alliance Powerfuels, are attempting to weaken the EU's Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). Specifically, it highlights efforts to remove 'additionality' requirements and extend 'temporal correlation' timeframes, which would allow hydrogen to be labeled as 'renewable' even if produced using fossil-fuel electricity. The author warns that such standards would result in carbon-intensive hydrogen, undermine the EU's 'energy efficiency first' principle, and risk subsidizing climate-damaging fuels through EU recovery funds.

• Corporate lobby groups, specifically Hydrogen Europe, are pressuring the European Commission to weaken sustainability standards for renewable hydrogen, which could result in carbon-intensive fuel being classified as 'green'.
• Hydrogen produced using fossil-fuel electricity is more damaging to the climate than hydrogen produced directly from fossil gas, with a carbon footprint between two and four times larger.
• Hydrogen Europe has lobbied to eliminate the 'additionality' requirement in RED II, which ensures that renewable electricity used for hydrogen comes from new installations rather than diverting existing renewable power from the grid.
• There is a dispute over 'temporal correlation' timeframes; while campaigners argue for a one-hour limit to ensure hydrogen is produced in lock-step with renewable generation, Hydrogen Europe has proposed a one-month limit.
• The Global Alliance Powerfuels (GAP) is also advocating for weak standards, including a one-week matching timeframe for electricity supply and demand and a 'grandfather clause' to lock in these standards for early producers.
• The document argues that a full-scale 'hydrogen economy' is unrealistic and inefficient compared to direct electrification, as the delivered energy from hydrogen can be less than 30% of the initial electricity input.

APA

Global Witness (2021). Greenwashed hydrogen. https://globalwitness.org/documents/169/Greenwashed_Hydrogen_-_June_2021.pdf

Chicago

Global Witness. Greenwashed hydrogen. 2021. https://globalwitness.org/documents/169/Greenwashed_Hydrogen_-_June_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=Greenwashed hydrogen |date=June 2021 |url=https://globalwitness.org/documents/169/Greenwashed_Hydrogen_-_June_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitness2021greenwashed, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Greenwashed hydrogen}}, institution = {Global Witness}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://globalwitness.org/documents/169/Greenwashed_Hydrogen_-_June_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }