The pressure to revise renewable hydrogen rules in Europe has taken a new turn. Sixteen German state energy ministers have sent a joint letter to European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jørgensen , requesting a relaxation of the criteria that determine when hydrogen produced by electrolysis can be certified as a renewable non-biological fuel (RNBF).
The complaint directly targets Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1184, which requires grid-connected electrolyzers to meet additionality, temporal correlation, and geographical correlation criteria to obtain certification. According to the signatories, these conditions are delaying or even causing the cancellation of large-scale projects, despite several already having public support.
The request is particularly relevant because it comes as the European Commission prepares to review these regulations as part of the AccelerateEU initiative, scheduled for 2026. German regional governments are calling for this process to move quickly and provide greater predictability to avoid jeopardizing European electrolysis targets for 2030.
The political offensive also coincides with the support of the eFuel Alliance, which represents more than 160 companies in the synthetic fuels value chain. The organization maintains that current regulations are affecting the sector's competitiveness and has presented a series of proposals to modify the European framework.
One of the main concerns concerns the mandatory time-based correlation between renewable energy generation and the electricity consumption of electrolyzers. According to studies cited by the eFuel Alliance, this change could increase the production cost of renewable hydrogen by up to 25% . Furthermore, it would raise annual costs for the European energy system by up to €2.68 billion and reduce installed electrolysis capacity in the European Union by 33% by 2035 compared to a scenario with less restrictive rules.
A review that could benefit Spain and other markets
Among the proposed modifications is a review of the so-called "90% clause", which currently exempts countries whose electricity mix exceeds that percentage of renewable generation from complying with certain requirements.
The industry proposes replacing that threshold with intermediate targets of 69% by 2030 and 80% by 2035 , aligned with the RePowerEU goals. If approved, the measure would particularly benefit markets such as Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and the Baltic countries , which could access this more flexible regime sooner.
The eFuel Alliance also calls for extending the current additionality criterion until 2035, maintaining the monthly correlation instead of switching to an hourly correlation, allowing the use of renewable electricity that has received public aid, and establishing protection mechanisms for already committed investments, preventing future regulatory changes from affecting projects that have already reached their final investment decision (FID).
Another point of discussion is the treatment of CO₂ used to produce synthetic fuels. The organization proposes relaxing the conditions for using industrial carbon sources and clarifying the rules applicable to facilities located outside the European Union, where there are no systems equivalent to the European emissions trading system (EU ETS).
The discussion reflects the main dilemma facing European hydrogen policy today: maintaining high environmental standards without discouraging the development of an industry that needs billions of euros in investment to meet decarbonization targets. The outcome of the review of the RFNBO framework will be crucial in defining the pace of deployment of electrolyzers and renewable fuels in the second half of the decade.