Nearly €1 billion awarded to boost development of renewable hydrogen

May 21, 2025 by United Nations Leave a Comment

A futuristic white and teal hydrogen fuel cell vehicle displayed at an exhibition, showcasing innovative automotive design with a transparent roof and unique wheel structure. — (Credit: Unsplash)

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the Commission announced the selection of 15 renewable hydrogen production projects for public fundingacross the European Economic Area (EEA).The projects, located across five countries, are expected to produce nearly 2.2 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen over ten years, avoiding more than 15 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. The hydrogen will be produced in sectors such as transportation, the chemical industry, or the production of methanol and ammonia. They will receive a total of €992 million in EU funding, from the Innovation Fund sourced from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).

The winning bidders, awarded after the second European Hydrogen Bank (EHB) auction, will produce the renewable hydrogen in Europe with a subsidy that will help to close the price difference between their production costs and the market price and accelerate the deployment of cleaner fuels.

The auctions of the European Hydrogen Bank contribute to scaling up renewable hydrogen, which in turn will help replace natural gas, coal and oil in hard-to-decarbonise industries and transport sectors. Producing more renewable hydrogen will decrease the use of fossil fuels on our continent and increase the EU’s energy independence and positively impact security, jobs and the decarbonisation of European industry.

Of the selected projects, 12 are committed to producing renewable hydrogen with fixed premium support between €0.20 and €0.60 per kilogramme. For the first time, the auction provided a dedicated budget for hydrogen producers with off-takers in the maritime sector, which are entities using the hydrogen produced by the project for carrying out or making use of bunkering activities. This has resulted in the selection of three bids receiving €96.7 million in grants. These projects will require between €0.45 and €1.88 per kilogramme. Each subsidy for the 15 projects ranges from €8 million and €246 million over a period up to 10 years.

The selected projects are listed in the following table:

** Calculated based on the 2021-2025 ETS benchmark of 6.84 tons CO2e/tH2, not taking into account additional carbon abatement due to substitution effects in the H2 end use application

In parallel, Spain, Lithuania, and Austria are allocating up to €836 million in national funding for projects in their countries through the ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ feature. This allows Member States to identify and fund eligible projects in their territories that meet the auction’s qualification criteria but cannot be funded by the Innovation Fund due to budgetary limitations. ‘Auctions-as-a-service‘ is open to all Member States, enabling them to benefit from the EU-level auction platform and award national funding to additional projects with simplified procedure.

Next Steps

The selected projects will now be invited to prepare their grant agreement with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Agreements are expected to be signed by September/October 2025.

Signed projects are required to reach financial close within a maximum of two and a half years after signature and to start producing renewable hydrogen within a period of 5 years. They will receive the fixed premium subsidy for a period of up to ten years for certified and verified renewable hydrogen production. As announced in the Clean Industrial Deal, a third European Hydrogen Bank auction is planned for end 2025 with a budget of up to €1 billion.

The Commission will soon also launch the Hydrogen Mechanism under the European Hydrogen Bank. This online platform will bring together buyers and sellers and enable market participants to share information and find potential commercial partners.

Background

With an estimated total budget of €40 billion from the EU Emissions Trading System for the period from 2020 to 2030, the Innovation Fund creates financial incentives for companies and public authorities to invest in cutting-edge net-zero technologies and support Europe’s transition to climate neutrality.

The European Hydrogen Bank facilitates the EU’s domestic production and imports of renewable hydrogen that qualifies as Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO), meaning it is generated using renewable electricity and meets the EU’s sustainability criteria. It supports the EU target to produce 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable hydrogen by 2030, as set out in the REPowerEU plan. It aims to unlock private investment in the EU and in third countries by addressing investment challenges, closing the funding gap, and connecting future renewable hydrogen supply to consumers. In its first auction in 2023, the Innovation Fund awarded nearly €700 million in grants to support 6 projects.

For More Information

Innovation Fund competitive bidding

IF24 Auction web page

Press release: Spain, Lithuania and Austria on the European Hydrogen Bank’s ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ scheme

News: Over-subscribed European Hydrogen Bank auction receives 61 bids for Innovation Fund support, including 8 maritime projects

EU Funding & Tenders Portal

European Hydrogen Bank
Innovation Fund dashboard

Innovation Fund projects

Innovation Fund

Discover more from The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

This article is published in association with United Nations.

‘Connect the dots’ between street protests and global turmoil, urges Guterres

October 23, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The international community must combat inequality and stop wars from expanding to ensure a safer world for all, the UN Secretary-General said on Thursday. Speaking to reporters in New York ahead of a visit to Egypt, António Guterres addressed growing public discontent in Europe and beyond, […]

© SOS Méditerranée/Anthony Jean Up to $500 million was paid in migrant smuggling fees on sea routes to Europe in 2025, according to new UN estimates.

Migrants paid up to $500 million in smuggling fees on European sea routes

October 22, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The price tag for smuggling on European sea routes reached up to half a billion dollars last year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN migration office, IOM, reported on Wednesday. Key points Almost half of migrants trying to get smuggled into […]

The author of this article explored other courses in different fields, but it was in medicine that she found her place. From the beginning of her studies, Valéria discovered in medical practice more than just a career: she found her vocation when she realized that caring for others also gave meaning to her own life. Driven by a genuine desire to help, the student stood out as a Teaching Assistant in Public Health, strengthening her humanized perspective. Today, she is part of the coordinating board of IFMSA UNEX MED, working in the Human Rights and Peace (SCORP) area, where she transforms empathy into action and social commitment into real impact.

Global warming will breach 1.5°C – but deep, fast cuts can still bring it back

October 21, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. With global temperature rise set to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, countries “must pull out all the stops” and urgently cut emissions to minimize the overshoot and return to the internationally agreed threshold by the end of this century. The recommendation comes in the Emissions Gap […]

© Agricultural Development Association – PARC A farmer in the West Bank harvest olives in October 2025. (file)

‘Season of fear’: Escalating Israeli attacks on West Bank olive farmers, deadly strikes on Gaza

October 20, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Israeli attacks on war-torn Gaza over the weekend killed at least six Palestinians, including children, despite a year-old ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, settler violence continued through the ongoing olive harvest, with UN independent experts on Monday urging Israel to protect Palestinian farmers. […]

COP17: The world has a plan to save nature. Is it working?

October 19, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN Secretary-General has called for an end to the “war on nature”. On Monday, governments gathering in Yerevan, Armenia, will have to confront a more practical question: are they doing enough to win the peace and put the world’s biodiversity goals back on track? COP17, […]

© WHO A large-scale combined missile and drone strike hit Kyiv's Solomianskyi district on August 20, 2026.

Ukraine: Critical health supplies destroyed in ongoing Russian attacks

October 16, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Ongoing and deadly Russian attacks across Ukraine are causing serious healthcare disruption, with more than $1.5 million-worth of medicines and supplies destroyed in four separate strikes on warehouses used by the UN there since July. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 21 warehouses have been […]

© UNICEF/Niccolò Corti A child sits alone, praying, at a reception centre for migrants in Lampedusa, Italy.

World News in Brief: West African migrant crossings, Argentina takes UK to maritime tribunal, farming in Gaza, mental health update

October 15, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Fewer people from West Africa are reaching Europe by sea, but the journey has not become safer, the UN migration agency (IOM) said on Tuesday. Arrivals from Mali, Senegal, Guinea and The Gambia fell by 59 per cent in the first half of 2026 compared with […]

© UN Ukraine The aftermath of a drone attack in a residential area in Kyiv on 12 October.

Ukraine: Residents killed and dozens injured in attacks on Kharkiv and Kyiv

October 14, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Russian attacks in recent days on on Ukraine’s two largest cities have again killed and injured civilians, damaged homes and civilian infrastructure, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said on Tuesday. Aid workers and rescuers were on the ground in Kyiv and Kharkiv following aerial strikes that […]

© IOM The war in Sudan has created extreme levels of displacement, both internally and across Sudan’s borders.

‘Efficiency has limits’: UNHCR chief warns refugee protection is buckling under cuts

October 13, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The money is running out faster than needs are growing: with 117 million men, women and children now forced from their homes, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has received just $3 billion of the $8.5 billion it needs this year – and its chief, Barham Salih, warns […]

© UNOCHA/Ramatoulaye Moussa Maz A woman walks through a camp for displaced people in Ituri Province in eastern DR Congo, where decades of violence have impacted millions, creating a humanitarian emergency.

Rise in poverty is ‘a wake-up call for the world’, UN development chief says

October 13, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The number of people living in “multidimensional” poverty has risen for the first time in 15 years, reaching 1.2 billion, as families struggle to meet their basic needs. The finding comes in the 2026 update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published by the United Nations […]

© UNDP Nidaa with the chickens and ducks she raises in Gaza.

Sustaining livelihoods amid crisis in Gaza

October 12, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Nidaa, Hanaa and Hanin have different stories, but share a common thread: the determination to build something of their own and keep it going despite extraordinary challenges facing them in war-ravaged Gaza. Following the devastation of the past three years, productive capacity in Gaza has been severely […]

© UNICEF/Oleksii Filippov A firefighter works on the balcony of a wrecked building in Kyiv, Ukraine.

World News in Brief: Russian attacks continue in Ukraine, Gazans shelter in flood-prone areas, keeping sight of eye health

October 9, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Thursday he was appalled by a wave of attacks that have killed civilians across Ukraine over the past four days. They include a strike on two public buses in Kramatorsk on Thursday, that left at least 30 civilians dead, […]

Ukraine: UN condemns latest attacks and calls for civilian protection

October 8, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine on Wednesday called for an end to attacks against civilians following further overnight strikes by Russian forces that reportedly killed at least 19 in the Chernihiv Region. Among the dead in Pryluky were five children, three of them babies, according to the […]

© UNICEF-SoP/Crickx People walk down a dusty road in the West Bank carrying belongings.

Israeli demolition in East Jerusalem displaces 69 Palestinians

October 7, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Sixty-nine Palestinians – more than half of them children – were displaced on Tuesday after Israeli authorities green lit the demolition of their residential building in the At Tur area of East Jerusalem, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) has reported. This is the highest number of […]

‘The clock on AI regulation is ticking’, warns UN rights chief

October 6, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The world is running out of time to put guardrails on artificial intelligence, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned Monday, as a “ruthless race” between companies and countries raises concerns about human safety and even humanity’s survival. Speaking in the UK at an AI […]

© UNOCHA/Alina Basiuk A school in Ukraine lies in ruins after being hit by a missile.

Ukraine war ‘a human rights catastrophe’ that must end, says Türk

October 5, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Human Rights The war in Ukraine is a human rights catastrophe that is “growing and intensifying by the week” and threatening an even greater disaster across the region, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Friday. Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr. […]

UN News Massive tent settlement of displaced residents extends along the damaged Gaza coastline.

Palestinians yearn for ‘a return to normal life’, says top Middle East peace envoy

October 2, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN is continuing efforts to support Palestinians in Gaza amid major challenges to humanitarian access, reconstruction and the restoration of essential services, according to Ramiz Alakbarov, Acting UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Speaking to UN News on the margins of the UN […]

©UNIFIL/Tilak Pokharel UNIFIL personnel distribute food kits to displaced families in Saida, Lebanon (file).

Lebanon: One in five children goes to bed hungry, says UNICEF

October 1, 2026

This article is published in association with United Nations. Four in five households in Lebanon struggle to afford basic necessities today, with children increasingly going without food, missing school and being pushed into work as conflict compounds years of economic crisis. “I wanted to buy clothes for my children, but I could not. I also wanted […]

World News in Brief: Deadly Myanmar strikes as Malaysia begins deportations, new emergency funding released, Gaza and West Bank update

September 30, 2026

The UN chief on Tuesday strongly condemned an airstrike that reportedly killed at least 50 people at a market in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and called for those responsible to be held to account. Forces from the military junta reportedly hit Kyauktaw township around midday on Monday, when the market’s more than 200 shops were busy […]