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Accelerating Hydrogen Development in Germany8 May 2025

Developing a (green) hydrogen economy remains a major German and EU goal. The initial euphoria has, however, faded. Real projects are still few and far between, not least due to the German and EU framework conditions that have been in place to date. In particular, there remains a lack of sufficient demand for green hydrogen (and its derivatives). A much-needed Europe-wide certification system for hydrogen imports into the EU is also lacking and is slowing down cooperation between potential export countries and EU member states.

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"A much-needed Europe-wide certification system for hydrogen imports into the EU is also lacking and is slowing down cooperation between potential export countries and EU member states."

Large-scale projects for the production of hydrogen using CCS technology (blue hydrogen) will play a decisive role in the new German government’s plans to further develop the German hydrogen sector. It is to be welcomed that the previous strict focus on green hydrogen is being relaxed, particularly in view of Asia’s greater openness to blue hydrogen to date. With that in mind, it is regrettable that Germany’s new coalition agreement contains so little concrete information regarding the certification system. It merely states that a trustworthy and unbureaucratic certification system for climate-friendly energy sources is crucial to successfully promote their ramp-up; making this primarily an issue to be solved at EU level. A statement that Germany will proactively work for such certification within the EU would have been welcomed.

The coalition agreement is somewhat clearer when it comes to the development of hydrogen infrastructure, which is cited as a key task for the future. The existing LNG infrastructures play a key role here. In the coming years, these will be expanded from a transitional solution based on special ships (FSRUs) to permanent facilities. The initial preparatory work for this is already underway and various planning and permitting procedures are already pending. It is expected that the new federal government will continue along the path already taken by its predecessors.

It is a pity, however, that the coalition agreement does not contain any content in relation to the required increase of demand for climate neutral hydrogen. Of course, the goals set by the REFuel EU Martine and REFuel EU Aviation Regulations remain intact and German government will work to meet these. Nevertheless, more clarity in this regard would have been helpful.

 

Click here to view all articles in our series about the German federal government’s 2025 coalition agreement which offer a legal and practical assessment of selected topics from the coalition agreement.

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