Joint Letter by 40+ CSO Groups: No to Hydrogen Greenwashing of Fossil Gas Infrastructure

Over 40 CSO groups from across Europe have sent an open letter to the European Commission. They are particularly concerned about nearly 150 large-scale hydrogen transport projects which have applied to receive Project of Common Interest (PCI) or Project of Mutual Interest (PMI) priority status via the PCI/PMI list.

According to the candidate project list provided in the public consultation:

• 90 per cent of the project candidates either openly aim at transporting fossil fuels-based hydrogen (60 per cent) or fail to exclude fossil based hydrogen transport (30 per cent);
• A high number of proposed projects are either identical or similar to infrastructure projects that have been proposed for fossil gas transport in this form before, or are ‘classical’ fossil gas projects not even mentioning hydrogen;
• 90 per cent of these projects have been proposed by the fossil fuel industry, most of them by ENTSO-G, a fossil gas transport industry umbrella body.

Groups are worried that this giant, planned hydrogen infrastructure will promote the wasteful use of this scarce molecule. Vested fossil fuel interests risk creating a situation in which the PCI/PMI list becomes a priority list for polluters rather than people in Europe.

The signatories ask the EU Commission to not support polluters greenwashing fossil gas pipelines through the PCI/PMI list and to protect Europe’s true common interest - real sustainability and energy security.