How Europe Can Meet Hydrogen Fuel Mandates Without Hydrogen Fuels - CleanTechnica

The article discusses how European Union member states can meet the 2030 renewable energy transport mandates under RED III without necessarily deploying hydrogen fuels directly in vehicles. RED III requires that at least 5.5% of energy supplied to transport come from advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs) combined, with a minimum 1% specifically from RFNBOs such as renewable hydrogen or hydrogen-derived synthetic fuels. While direct use of renewable hydrogen in fuel cell vehicles or synthetic fuels is the cleanest compliance pathway, it is currently economically challenging due to high hydrogen costs compared to diesel and electricity on a per useful energy basis, making operators reluctant to adopt hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. An alternative compliance route is through the refinery sector, where renewable hydrogen can replace grey hydrogen used in processes like hydrocracking and desulfurization. This substitution reduces refinery emissions and generates compliance credits toward the transport RFNBO subtarget, even though the final fuels sold remain conventional petrol or