Hydrogen as a form of indirect electrification is an important way for the mining industry to decarbonize. The element can be used as feedstock or a source of energy in industrial and chemical processes and in air and maritime transport, decarbonising sectors where direct electrification is not technologically possible or competitive, as well as for energy storage to balance, where necessary, the energy system, thereby playing a significant role in energy system integration.

The revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) provides a possibility to streamline and increase the feasibility of the uptake of renewable hydrogen in industrial applications, however, the delegated act proposed for public feedback still under consideration from RED II will complicate, if not make impossible, for the mining sector to convert processes to fossil-free operations. This is due to the proposed additionality and other criteria required for electricity production, which might work for transport but are not feasible to allow the uptake of hydrogen in large-scale industrial operations.

Euromines supports fully the efforts to promote the uptake in both production and use of hydrogen, but believes that substantial amendments in the delegated act are necessary to support the uptake of fossil-free hydrogen in industry. If this is not the case – instead of adopting a delegated act with additionality criteria that defy the real-world application of hydrogen in industrial installations – renewable hydrogen for industry should be defined under a new legal basis in RED III, currently under discussion.