European-Japanese cooperation on hydrogen takes clearer shape

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson and representatives of the European hydrogen industry signed cooperation agreements with their Japanese counterparts this week. Tackling China’s dominant position in renewable technologies will be a priority.

The EU and Japan have long sought to cooperate on renewable energy technologies. The newly signed agreement, reported by Euractiv, builds on a wide-ranging green agreement from 2021 and a memorandum of cooperation between the EU and Japan on hydrogen signed in 2022.

"Hydrogen will be an internationally traded commodity, and close cooperation between the EU and Japan will be crucial to promoting renewable and low-carbon hydrogen worldwide," Simson told participants at the Japan Energy Summit.

The new agreement was signed by the European Commission, the H2Global initiative, which will provide funding for projects worth 5 billion euros, the Hydrogen Europe association and the EU Hydrogen Bank (which will provide 3 billion euros). Europe and Japan want to become major players in renewable hydrogen and thereby influence the process of setting standards and certification schemes. Cooperation on hydrogen is one of the priorities of the European strategy for renewable gases.

Japan’s 2023 hydrogen strategy is not entirely aligned with Europe’s, at least when it comes to the definition of green hydrogen. Subsidies for green hydrogen production are provided for a product whose production emits no more than 3.4 kg of CO2 per 1 kg of gas. This means subsidies are also available for blue hydrogen made using natural gas, provided at least 66 % of carbon emissions are captured during production. The European Commission wants hydrogen to be strictly green—produced by electrolysis using only electricity from renewable sources.

Competition from dominant China

A joint statement by the commissioner and Japan’s economy minister also highlights the need to remain vigilant about the main competitor in green technologies—China. Both sides share “deep concerns about economic dependence on supplies of strategic goods” and the use of non-market policies and practices.

This is a clear warning to China, which is under investigation by the EU for distorting the electric vehicle market. China has a clear dominant position in solar energy in Europe, but not in wind power. The situation is different in Japan, where the first Chinese offshore wind turbines were installed last year.