Addressed to President von der Leyen, Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, and Commissioners Kadri Simson and Thierry Breton, the cross-party MEPs expressed concern that the REPowerEU plan “does not pay enough attention to the potential of low-carbon hydrogen.”

The letter stressed the need for EU member states to be able to become self-sufficient with clean hydrogen that is locally produced in a “sustainable and cost-effective way” as the continent strives to relieve its dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Inviting the Commission to reconsider the target of 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen imports, the letter stated, “This target does not give the right signal to the market: the EU should first focus on developing the necessary capacity of clean hydrogen domestic production, whether it comes from renewable or low-carbon sources, before importing any other additional molecules from reliable international partners.”

The REPowerEU Plan detailed targets of producing 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen domestically, while importing an additional 10 million tonnes by 2030.

Read more: REPowerEU: €34-49bn needed for hydrogen infrastructure

The Hydrogen Council, in its Global Hydrogen Flows report, released on October 5, identified Europe as a region that is likely to rely on hydrogen import by 2050, due its predicted high hydrogen demand and limited cheap domestic supply.

Read more: Regional hydrogen supply and demand mismatch will force global trade links by 2050, report predicts

In May, (2022) ahead of releasing its REPowerEU plan, the European Commission signed a joint declaration with 20 CEOs of leading electrolyser manufacturing companies, committing to increase the EU’s manufacturing capacity to 17.5GW by 2025.

Read more: Hydrogen in Europe: ‘Now is the time to remove all obstacles’