This webinar covers the main trends in the European landscape of hydrogen technology, from roadmaps and charted political commitments, to research and development, and deployment and implementation in the economic fabric of society. The European Council (EC) summer session of 2021 decided to end support for new natural gas and oil projects, and to introduce mandatory sustainability criteria for all current and future projects sponsored by the EC (and by virtue of subsequent preparation through individual states’ legislations by the entire European Union).

EC established a transitional period until the end of 2029, during which “grey” hydrogen derived from natural gas can still be used. For this limited period of eight years, transporting or storing a blend of hydrogen with natural gas or biomethane is allowed.

The speakers review a list of envisioned strategic projects that will be deployed to demonstrate how, by the end of this transitional period, these hydrogen/gas blends will be replaced with clean hydrogen, and by this, natural gas will be dislodged from the EU member states’ economies. This policy clearly supports currently standing EU policies for ending the extraction and use of coal across member states by 2030. This drive towards “green” hydrogen is a hallmark of the EU hydrogen strategy. By proposing the development of a dedicated hydrogen grid and creation of multiple hydrogen clusters across the EU, the EC aims to create a hydrogen market for Europe and hence to help the EU meet its commitment to carbon neutrality in 2050.

Plamen Atanassov is a Chancellor’s Professor with the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California Irvine (UCI). He holds secondary appointments in materials science and engineering, and chemistry. Dr Atanassov is building a PhD programme in electrochemistry at UCI.

Vito Di Noto is a professor of electrochemistry for energy and solid-state chemistry in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD). He is head of the Section of Chemistry for Technology in the same department and founder and team leader of the research group, Chemistry of Materials for the Metamorphosis and the Storage of Energy – CheMaMSE. Prof. Di Noto has more than 30 years of experience in the research and development activities of advanced functional materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices, including ion-exchange membrane fuel cells, and primary and secondary batteries running on alkaline and alkaline-earth elements.

Stephen J McPhail is co-ordinator of the Joint Programme on Fuel Cells and Hydrogen at the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), and a researcher at ENEA (the Italian national agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development). He serves as the Italian representative to the IEA Energy Technology Network’s Technical Collaboration Programme on Advanced Fuel Cells, and in the International Electrotechnical Commission TC 105. His research focuses on high-temperature fuel cells and electrolysers, cell and system characterization.