Tackling Investment Risks to Accelerate Green Hydrogen Deployment in the EU

This policy brief by RMI argues that the European Union must utilize the European Hydrogen Bank and targeted subsidies to mitigate market and first-mover risks to accelerate the deployment of green hydrogen. The document suggests that strategic public investment can unlock hundreds of billions in private capital, ensuring energy security and sustainability for industrial and transport sectors.

• Scaling up green hydrogen supply to provide 20 million tons to European markets by 2030 would require mobilizing between €330 billion and €400 billion (US$320 billion to US$390 billion) of private investment in electrolyzers and renewables.
• Two primary investment risks hinder the industrial-scale deployment of green hydrogen: market risk, where off-takers fear being locked into rates higher than those of competing fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal; and first-mover risk, where early investors face high electrolyzer costs that may become uncompetitive as technology costs decline.
• To offset projected market risk and make green hydrogen competitive with fossil-based fuels, a cumulative investment of approximately €10 billion is needed between 2024 and 2029. This risk is expected to be negated by 2030 as EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) carbon prices are projected to rise from €80/ton to €140/ton.
• To achieve necessary learning curves and cost reductions, the EU needs to build capacity capable of delivering at least ~3 million tons per year (Mtpa) by the end of 2027. To keep these early assets competitive and operational, public financial support of €3.5-5 billion per year is required.
• The European Hydrogen Bank will start with €3 billion in capital to create demand certainty. Overall, spending up to €15 billion to offset investment risks by 2030 could leverage private spending on clean energy technologies exceeding 20 times that amount.

APA

RMI (2022). Tackling Investment Risks to Accelerate Green Hydrogen Deployment in the EU. https://rmi.org/resources/tackling-investment-risks-to-accelerate-green-hydrogen-deployment-in-the-eu/

Chicago

RMI. Tackling Investment Risks to Accelerate Green Hydrogen Deployment in the EU. 2022. https://rmi.org/resources/tackling-investment-risks-to-accelerate-green-hydrogen-deployment-in-the-eu/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Tackling Investment Risks to Accelerate Green Hydrogen Deployment in the EU |date=6 October 2022 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/tackling-investment-risks-to-accelerate-green-hydrogen-deployment-in-the-eu/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2022tackling, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Tackling Investment Risks to Accelerate Green Hydrogen Deployment in the EU}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/tackling-investment-risks-to-accelerate-green-hydrogen-deployment-in-the-eu/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }