Berlin Officials Warn Green Hydrogen Setbacks Could Delay Fossil Fuel Phaseout Goals
Concerns over delayed green hydrogen projects have sparked renewed anxiety among European climate officials, as multiple countries scale back their clean energy ambitions. Developers are cancelling or postponing investments globally, citing high production costs and tepid industrial demand. With the EU’s 2030 green hydrogen targets increasingly out of reach, experts now warn that prolonged reliance on fossil fuels could undermine both decarbonisation timelines and net-zero goals. The situation has triggered an urgent call for more targeted policy action, robust infrastructure, and genuine market demand to revive confidence in the sector.
At the heart of this slowdown is a growing mismatch between policy ambition and economic reality. While governments across Europe have pledged aggressive support for green hydrogen, commercial uptake remains minimal, especially in high-emission sectors like steel, cement, and long-haul transport. Subsidies alone have failed to create reliable market conditions. In fact, many companies report sitting on shovel-ready projects but are unable to proceed due to the lack of willing hydrogen buyers. Analysts describe the current environment as a painful correction, where earlier expectations for mass adoption are giving way to sobering logistical and financial constraints. Cost is a major sticking point. Producing hydrogen through renewable-powered electrolysis remains significantly more expensive than using natural gas or coal. For industries operating on tight margins, the switch to green hydrogen represents an untenable economic burden.
Current green hydrogen prices can be up to five times higher than natural gas, making it non-viable for most industrial applications. Even with public funding in place, companies are reluctant to commit to a fuel that could undermine their competitiveness. As a result, countries like France, Portugal, and Italy have already reduced their hydrogen investment targets or reallocated funds toward more economically viable alternatives such as biomethane. Infrastructure hurdles further complicate deployment. Hydrogen’s volatile nature demands costly storage systems, new pipelines, and stringent safety measures—none of which are yet adequately available across Europe. Delays in rolling out cross-border networks like the H2Med corridor are hampering efforts to create a unified European hydrogen market. Experts stress that without pre-emptive investment in transport and storage systems, market momentum will continue to stall. Still, some officials believe that these setbacks are part of a necessary recalibration and could lead to more sustainable, demand-driven growth in the long term.
In the face of mounting delays, the broader environmental implications are stark. If green hydrogen fails to scale at the projected pace, industrial sectors may continue relying on fossil fuels far beyond 2030, putting the EU’s climate goals at serious risk. Officials and climate advocates are now urging governments to reframe strategies—from focusing purely on production targets to enabling end-use adoption through incentives, procurement mandates, and international partnerships. While optimism about hydrogen’s long-term role remains, the current reality calls for pragmatic adjustments grounded in both technical feasibility and market economics.
