The EU's council of ministers today adopted the final legal texts of the revised renewable energy directive (RED III), setting a renewables share of 42.5pc for 2030. The council also adopted the ReFuelEU aviation regulation, which sets targets for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), including hydrogen.
RED III increases the bloc's current target for the share of renewables in final energy consumption to at least 42.5pc, with the aim to reach 45pc by 2030. It was previously set at a 32pc share. The legislation also sets a sub-target share of 29pc of renewables in final consumption of energy in transport. This equates to a target 14.5pc reduction of transport's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. RED III sets out criteria for accounting the share of renewables from biofuels, advanced biofuels, renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs) such as hydrogen and of electric vehicles (EVs).
The ReFuelEU Aviation regulation establishes minimum shares of sustainable aviation fuels to be blended by aviation fuel suppliers and supplied at EU airports. SAF targets start at 2pc of aviation fuel from 2025, increasing every five years — to 6pc in 2030, 20pc in 2035, 34pc in 2040, 42pc in 2045 and 70pc in 2050.
To enter into force, both the SAF regulation and renewables directive must now be published in the bloc's official journal in the coming weeks. EU states will then have 18 months, after entry into force, to transpose into national legislation.
Industry association Hydrogen Europe's chief policy officer Daniel Fraile welcomes the final wording setting out the new renewables targets and rules for RFNBOs, including a tweak allowing for calculation of calorific values for renewable ammonia via "relevant ISO standards". Under the text, member states shall ensure RFNBOs used for final energy and non-energy purposes constitute at least 42pc of the hydrogen used for final energy and non-energy purposes in industry by 2030, and 60pc by 2035.
Fraile also underlines the urgent need for certification mechanisms to validate RFNBOs and their compliance with RED III criteria. "We're hoping the commission will approve the already presented certification schemes by the end of the year," Fraile said.
The EU's gas and hydrogen package is also crucial for industry, Fraile added. "It sets rules on which firms can invest in and need to plan for hydrogen infrastructure, and whether incumbents have to split up companies due to unbundling," he said, expecting final political agreement on the package before the end of the year.
In non-binding statements attached to the legal texts, some central European countries and Belgium and Ireland signalled discontent at the high level of targets. The use of qualified majority voting, and not unanimity, to approve RED III and other legislation, constitutes a "dangerous precedent", according to Poland. Warsaw added that the entire package of legal measures aimed at a 55pc reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, sets "unrealistic targets and ambitions and significantly impacts member states' energy mixes."
