OGRepublic August Edition

INDUSTRY NEWS
European Investment Bank Signs Advisory Agreement
with Hydrogen Europe
The European Investment Bank (EIB)
and Hydrogen Europe, an umbrella
association representing European
industry, research, and national and
regional associations in the hydrogen and
fuel cell sector, has signed an agreement
for consultancy services.
Under the agreement, the EU bank will
provide financing advisory support for
hydrogen projects introduced by Hydrogen
Europe. Furthermore, it will cooperate on
market development initiatives and
conduct joint market outreach. Finally, the
agreement will help to develop dedicated
EIB financing products for green hydrogen.
Hydrogen technology can play a crucial
role in achieving a carbon neutral EU
economy by 2050. The current share of
hydrogen in Europe’s energy mix is less
than 2%, but it could rise to 14% by midcentury.
The European Hydrogen Strategy,
which is part of the European Green Deal,
aims to enable widespread use of
hydrogen by 2050.
According to the strategy, green hydrogen
will be produced on a systemically relevant
s c a l e b e t w e e n 2 0 3 0 a n d 2 0 5 0 .
Consequently, investments in renewable
or low-carbon hydrogen will need to
increase. The strategy anticipates that
between €180 and €470 billion will be
required for production capacities in the
European Union by 2050.
Alongside the European Commission,
Hydrogen Europe is one of the three
participants of the European Joint
Undertaking on Hydrogen, a public-private
partnership working to facilitate the
market introduction of clean hydrogen
technologies in Europe.
“Green hydrogen presents an opportunity
to decarbonise industrial processes,
particularly in sectors where emission
reduction is urgent but difficult to
achieve,” said EIB President Werner Hoyer.
“Many European countries are actively
supporting the development of hydrogen
technologies. One of the main strengths of
the European Investment Bank is that it
combines advisory and technical support
in the initial phases of a project with
attractive forms of financing later on. This
model is perfect for the development and
deployment of new breakthrough
technologies, including those based on the use
of hydrogen.”
Obtaining green, zero-emission hydrogen is
very costly. In the EU context, the European
Investment Bank is a key funding partner. Over
the past eight years, the EU bank has provided
over €2 billion in advisory and financial support
to projects that use hydrogen technologies.
Projects that focus on scaling up deployment in
the transport sector by supporting new
hydrogen fleets and related infrastructure have
also received funding.
With its expertise and track record in financing
innovative technologies and infrastructure —
notably offshore wind and batteries — the EIB is
well placed to support the development of the
hydrogen ecosystem in Europe.
Currently, the Bank supports technologies such
as electrolysers, catalysts and fuel cells. It also
finances large-scale hydrogen production,
including electrolysis, carbon capture and
storage and hydrogen stations.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the longterm
lending institution of the European Union
owned by its Member States. The Bank provides
long-term financial support for sound
investments, thus contributing to the
achievement of EU policy goals.
Hydrogen
There are various types of hydrogen,
categorised by production process and the
resulting greenhouse gas emissions. Clean
hydrogen (“renewable hydrogen” or “green
hydrogen”) is produced by the electrolysis of
water using electricity from renewable sources
and does not emit any greenhouse gases during
its production. It is distinct from grey hydrogen,
which is produced from methane and releases
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and blue
hydrogen, which captures those emissions and
stores them underground to prevent them from
causing climate change.
In 2019 the EIB Board of Directors approved a new
set of ambitious targets for climate action and
environmental sustainability. The EIB Group
Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 will guide our
ambition. It is the result of various rounds of
engagement with civil society and other
stakeholders.
The Roadmap outlines our bold ambitions for
climate finance to back the European Green Deal
and make Europe carbon-neutral. It maps the next
stages in the journey to sustainable investment and
provides a framework to counter climate change
and protect the environment during the critical
decade ahead.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the lending
arm of the European Union. It is the biggest
multilateral financial institution in the world and
one of the largest providers of climate finance. EIB
lend to clients of all sizes to support sustainable
growth and job creation.
EIB provide guarantees covering the risks of large
and small projects. We also provide loan portfolios
to make your projects more attractive to other
investors.
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