The European Commission is consulting on updated rules to assess whether EU states have properly followed the bloc's state aid laws. The commission aims to adopt the rules, which also lay out conditions for state aid for climate mitigation, before the current ones expire on 31 December 2026.
The "more streamlined" rules, proposed under the EU's general block exemption regulation (GBER), also aim to exempt certain state aid from prior notification and commission approval. For climate aid, under €30mn ($35mn) per firm and per project will be exempt from EU notification and approval. But the rule does not apply to aid for investments in equipment or machinery using fossil fuels including natural gas.
For state aid to investments for hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels, the aided fuels must be either renewable fuels of non-biological origin or low-carbon fuels as defined by EU law. And investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) or use (CCU) has to be for a complete CCS and/or CCU chain.
Aid intensities shall not normally exceed 5pc of costs for decarbonising existing installations. But higher aid intensities of up to 60pc for hydrogen, or 45pc for energy storage and CCS, are allowed for investments, notably if cutting greenhouse gas emissions of a technical unit by at least 90pc.
The consultation runs until 23 April.
