Governance for a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy: Lessons from Bioenergy in the European Union

Date: 07 July 2025 @ 11 AM – 12 PM (CEST)
Online: A registration link will be provided shortly
 

Background

Green hydrogen is emerging as a key solution for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors and offers significant value-creation potential, especially in countries with abundant renewable energy resources. However, hydrogen production also presents environmental and social challenges—particularly regarding land and water use. If not properly managed, these impacts can undermine local acceptance and lead to social conflict or environmental degradation.

The European Union (EU) has over 15 years of experience developing sustainability criteria and certification procedures in a comparable field: the bioenergy sector. The EU regulatory framework—shaped by directives such as the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996—was introduced to address sustainability concerns and close regulatory loopholes. The lessons learned from these processes valuable insights for shaping robust sustainability governance for hydrogen. 

Objectives & Key Discussion Points

The Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) in Potsdam, in collaboration with the Iberian Energy Storage Research Center (CIIAE), has developed a study entitled “Governance for a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy: Lessons from Bioenergy in the European Union”. After a presentation of the report, experts from the biofuels and the hydrogen sectors will reflect on the key lessons learned and how these can contribute to the development of more sustainable hydrogen value chains.

This event is part of the project “Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation: Sustainability Governance in the Hydrogen Sector” (GET Sustainable Hydrogen), funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.