Hydrogen offers a solution to decarbonise industrial processes and economic sectors where reducing carbon emissions is both urgent and hard to achieve.
This makes hydrogen and its derivatives such as ammonia, methanol and certain sustainable aviation fuels essential to support the EU’s commitment to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and in its objective to become independent from Russian fossil fuels before 2030.
The EU’s 2030 targets for the consumption of renewable hydrogen in industry and transport will ensure that there is demand. However, on the supply side, only a small number of hydrogen projects have reached final investment decisions and not many producers and consumers have managed to conclude transactions. This is despite significant interest from both producers and consumers to connect.
For this reason, the EU intends to facilitate market development in advance of 2030, including by developing a mechanism dedicated to the hydrogen market. This mechanism will rely on an IT Platform, which is currently in development, following a call for tender to select a service provider to design and develop such a platform, which closed on 12 August 2024.
Connecting buyers and suppliers – well before 2030
The hydrogen mechanism will help scale-up EU hydrogen production by increasing supply and demand transparency and helping buyers and suppliers connect. It will operate under the European Hydrogen Bank.
The mechanism will cover renewable and low-carbon hydrogen and derivatives such as ammonia and methanol. It will enable EU buyers to connect with international and European hydrogen supplies.
While it will build upon the successes of the AggregateEU platform for EU-wide gas demand pooling and joint purchases, the mechanism is tailored to the hydrogen market and fully distinct in operation, governance, and user experience.
The mechanism will rely on an IT platform, ensuring a quick and easy interface while protecting the confidentiality of data collected. The registrations to the hydrogen mechanism will open in June 2025, and the first round of calls for interest will be launched in September 2025.
Timeline
- September 2025
Launch of the hydrogen mechanism
- June 2025
Opening of registrations
- 6 December 2024
Signing of the procurement contract
How will it work?
The mechanism's objectives are to help suppliers and buyers connect, inform infrastructure development by identifying market needs and enhance available information on financial support.
It will engage directly with hydrogen stakeholders and perform a range of services, namely
- collecting hydrogen demand requests from consumers and offers from suppliers and organising calls for interest
- aggregating demand and matching consumption volumes with hydrogen supplies
- displaying information about available financing solutions with partner financial institutions
- collecting and using market data (while protecting its sensitivity and confidentiality) to support the development of infrastructure for hydrogen transport and storage
The hydrogen mechanism will also make pertinent non-commercially sensitive insights visible to the public in order to enhance market transparency and support investments. It will ensure synergies with other EU initiatives and support schemes to take advantage of available data and insights.
Potential user cases
The hydrogen mechanism is an opportunity for potential buyers to
- find suppliers
- give visibility to their current and future hydrogen needs
- give visibility to their willingness to transition away from fossil fuels
- find cooperation opportunities
It will allow suppliers to
- find buyers
- find the project partners needed to apply for domestic auctions under the European Hydrogen Bank
- connect with available funding opportunities
The Commission may also engage with infrastructure developers to use the mechanism to collect market interest in specific infrastructure projects.
Related links
- European Hydrogen Bank
- Press release: New pilot mechanism to boost the hydrogen market (3 June 2024)
EU Energy Platform and AggregateEU