2023-06-19 21:25:29
Key text of the EU climate plan, the law on renewable energies will provide for an exemption allowing France to take into account its hydrogen produced from nuclear energy, according to the compromise of the Twenty-Seven published on Monday 19 June.
This law, which imposes 42.5% of renewable energies in European consumption by 2030, was the subject of an agreement at the end of March between MEPs and the Swedish Presidency of the EU, which was negotiating on behalf of the Member States. But uncertainty reigned pending the formal green light from the States and the European Parliament.
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Paris made its approval subject to adjustments to be able to take into account its hydrogen produced from nuclear electricity, but came up against strong reluctance from Germany and its other nuclear-resistant partners.
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France finally won its case in a compromise found late Friday between the ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven, which relaxes the conditions required to take this production into account.
Ammonia plants excluded from targets
In detail, the agreement reached at the end of March imposes by 2030 at least 42% renewable hydrogen in the hydrogen used by industry. But it provides flexibility for countries with a nuclear fleet that can produce decarbonized hydrogen, allowing them to lower their renewable hydrogen target provided that the share of hydrogen produced from fossil fuels does not exceed not 23% of their consumption.
France considered this threshold inapplicable because of its significant production of ammonia (raw material for nitrogenous fertilizers), from hydrogen produced by steam reforming of natural gas.
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But according to a recital of the compromise, made public on Monday, ammonia plants using hydrogen produced by steam reforming and having been the subject of investments to reduce their CO2 emissions will be excluded from this calculation under certain conditions.
A deal “not very pretty, but bearable”
At the same time, in a political statement seen by AFP, the European Commission “recognizes that non-fossil energy sources other than renewables will contribute to achieving climate neutrality” targeted in 2050. This recognition “extremely strong” will be able “to be opposed” in negotiations on other texts, supports Paris.
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Brussels also undertakes to take account of the investments made to modernize these ammonia plants. “This will concretely serve to support them in their decarbonization process” in “reassuring” the production of fertilizers, specifies the cabinet of the French minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
German State Secretary Sven Giegold (Greens) pointed to an agreement “not very pretty, but bearable”while for Belgian Minister Tinne Van der Straeten, this « accord global » allows you to validate “very ambitious goals” of renewables. The Twenty-Seven will still have to ratify this agreement at a forthcoming ministerial meeting.
The MEP rapporteur for the text, Markus Pieper (EPP, right), welcomed on Monday “a very good overall result”. The agreement will be examined at the end of June in a parliamentary committee, before the final green light from MEPs expected in plenary in September, he added.
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