The European Union aims to have 2% of its shipping run on green hydrogen by 2030, but the production of green hydrogen-based replacements for conventional fuels requires vast capital investments.
Transport & Environment (T&E), an NGO advocating for clean transport and energy, has mapped energy projects in development across Europe and found that if at least 17 green hydrogen projects currently in development became operational, they could meet nearly 4% of EU shipping’s total energy demand by 2030. T&E found 44 other hydrogen projects in Europe that could also provide green fuels for ships, but project developers are eyeing other hydrogen-hungry industries too.
“Shipping has a chicken-and-egg problem,” said Inesa Ulichina, shipping officer at T&E. “E-fuels producers are waiting for clearer demand signals from ship operators before making large investments. Shipping operators, on the other hand, are waiting for these fuels to scale up and become cheaper before signing off-take agreements.
“The EU should ensure more supply and demand of e-fuels through regulation, which will provide fuel producers and shipping companies with investment certainty.”
T&E recommends that member states mandate at least 1.2% of shipping fuels to be e-fuels by 2030, which would, according to the organisation, secure all the current projects that have already received funding and allow more projects to reach the final investment decision.
Denmark alone accounts for more than half of all the planned hydrogen volumes across the 61 projects mapped by T&E. But in terms of fuels earmarked for shipping, Spain leads the way and is home to a third of the potential fuel supplies. Despite its large coastline, the UK has very few projects, while T&E found none in Italy and Greece.
