Eight years in the making, the deal was made during European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Australia, where she met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

It will permanently remove all tariffs on most Australian energy and resource exports to the EU, including hydrogen and its carriers, which could have faced up to 5.5% import fees.

“The Australia-European Free Trade Agreement will lower trade and investment barriers,” Albanese said.

It will also mean Australian organisations can access the EU funding programme Horizon Europe.

While still in its early phases, Australia has increasingly positioned itself as a future supplier of green hydrogen to regions like Europe. Germany is currently working with Canberra on setting up a double-sided auction to sell Australian-made green hydrogen on the European market.

Last year, the government launched a guarantee of origin scheme to verify the emissions intensity of clean hydrogen production to support exports.

Despite lucrative subsidy schemes for hydrogen producers, Australia’s hydrogen sector faced a turbulent 2024 and 2025.

Major government-backed projects were paused or cancelled primarily due to low demand, dragging hydrogen into the spotlight of political debate.

The removal of tariffs reduces delivered cost uncertainty for Australian exporters, but demand-side policy risk in Europe remains the key bottleneck for final investment decisions.

Europe is viewed as one of the core demand centres for low-cost green hydrogen producers thanks to mandates spanning e-fuels, mobility, and industrial use.

However, the bloc’s slow implementation of measures has sparked concerns from prospective exporters.