The Different Funding Corridors for Green H2 Investment Projects

Just any other type of investment in EU, H2 projects can – in principle – consider financial support either from National funding schemes or through the European route and its various programs designed under the 2021-27 Long Tem budget  (MFF) and NextGeneration EU. But is that really so?

Introduction

In its 7-yr budget the EU has set clear, ambitious targets for a substantially greener Europe by the end of this decade (2030 Climate Target Plan) and a climate-neutral continent by the mid of the century (2050 long-term strategy), in line with Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal. Naturally, these targets are subdivided to National (long-term) strategies, as all countries (including Greece), supported univocally the relevant commission’s initiatives. Somewhere in between these high-level objectives and localized action plans, lie largely ambiguous incentives for green H2 investments. Several gaps have been identified:

• Hard-to-access support
• Commercially-thin incentives
• Lack of legislative tools
• Production/consumption imbalances

Funding hydrogen investments is essential to cover entry barriers to what is being, at least rhetorically, widely considered an essential pathway towards a net-zero emissions Europe. And while cost-related barriers may cover some ground, the distance from the era of a hydrogen integrated with the rest of the energy system pillars still seem farfetched.             NextGenerationEU Connecting Europe Facility – Energy REACT-EU Horizon Europe Innovation Fund Recovery and Resilience Facility LIFE program National funding programs and funds