IOGP views on the proposed Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/241 as regards REPowerEU chapters in Recovery and Resilience Plans

This document provides IOGP's views on the proposed Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/241 as regards REPowerEU chapters in Recovery and Resilience Plans.

Context

IOGP welcomes REPowerEU’s objectives to boost gas supply diversification, accelerate the completion of gas infrastructure, and achieve energy savings and renewable energy sources (RES) and hydrogen (H2) deployment. The current crisis requires adequate measures to help improve existing energy infrastructure and accelerate the deployment of RES and H2. In this context, we agree that the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF’), the cornerstone of the EU’s investment strategy post-COVID 19, has the potential to enable the investments needed to achieve EU decarbonization objectives.

Key Points

We strongly support the proposal to include additional chapters in the Resilience and Recovery Plans (RRPs) to deliver the REPowerEU objectives, however, we would like to address the following comments:

• We recommend that the Commission takes an inclusive and technology-neutral approach allowing all forms of H2, including low-carbon H2 produced with natural gas (using steam methane reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS) or pyrolysis), to compete with other low-carbon emission technologies
• CCS requires policy support to incentivize its deployment at scale, especially during the market ramp-up phase. For this reason, excluding low carbon H2 produced from natural gas and CCS from the proposed RRPs REPowerEU chapters would send a wrong signal to companies, which are currently developing H2 and CCS projects, and can hinder the EU’s need to reach decarbonization objectives at a low cost for society