E.ON sees hydrogen as part of a carbon-free future
The head of German energy company E.ON said July 7 that green hydrogen could play an integral role in European efforts to cut carbon emissions.
E.ON CEO Leonhard Birnbaum is a member of the CEO Alliance, a 12-member group in the EU backing Brussels' on climate. Speaking from Paris ahead of a “Fit for 55” report from the EU, a legislative package outlining a 55% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 relative to 1990 levels, Birnbaum said the E.ON’s project within the alliance is to set up a EU-wide market for green hydrogen.
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“With hydrogen as an energy carrier, we can store green energy and transport it to places where it is needed in hard to abate sectors, for example for the production of climate-neutral, so-called green steel,” he said. “Green hydrogen can also contribute to decarbonisation in the heating sector, distributed via the widely ramified gas network. By using hydrogen, we are giving the process of decarbonisation a significant boost.”
Earlier this week, a division of Shell signed a memorandum of understanding with a hydrogen unit of German energy company Uniper to explore ways to link industrial and mobility demand with hydrogen supply, production and storage.
The announcement came less than a week after Shell announced that its energy and chemicals complex in Germany hosted the start up of Europe's largest polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyser for producing green hydrogen. The electrolyser will produce up to 1,300 metric tons/year of hydrogen, which will initially be used to produce fuels with lower carbon intensity, and will also help decarbonise other industries.
Elsewhere, EU leaders said putting a price on carbon could be one of the key ways to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
“Carbon should have a price, no matter in which sector it is emitted,” a statement from the alliance read.