# An Overview of Hydrogen's Application for Energy Purposes in Lithuania
## 2 Hydrogen Energy Regulation Tendencies in EU  
As the world strives to implement the energy transition, hydrogen is emerging as one of the most important corner stone together with renewable energy-based electricity on the way of achieving this goal. An increasing number of countries are updating their regulatory base to include the rising role of hydrogen in future energy balances [9]. The EU has been among the leaders in regards to the ambitious targets for the share of renewable energy, and hydrogen is becoming an inevitable part of this dramatic transition. Key targets for hydrogen energy development are set in the Communication from EU Commission regarding a Hydrogen Strategy [10], which is a part of a larger ambition of a European Green Deal [11] that was introduced as an urgent plan in tackling climate change. The most important aim is to become the first \"climate neutral and circular economy\" continent by 2050, which is in line with Paris Agreement--a legally binding treaty signed by 196 countries at the climate change conference in Paris in 2015 where there was an agreement reached--to cut global greenhouse gases in order to limit global temperature increases as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To achieve this, the EU Commission has set out an ambitious \"The 2030 Climate target plan\" in their Communication [12] in 2020. A new EU economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions reduction target was set for 2030: at least 55% reduction compared to 1990 level including emissions and removals. Additionally, following the New Industrial Strategy for Europe [13], the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance was formed. Moreover, in 2023 EU released two delegated acts defining green hydrogen and its derivatives [14]. One of the acts describes the methodology of greenhouse gas emissions calculation from renewable and recycled carbon fuels to ensure a 70% reduction in CO\({}_{2}\) equivalents. The other act defines the rules for defining \"renewable\" hydrogen. After conducting the search of hydrogen-related policies in force worldwide that include hydrogen production and supply, transportation and storage, a few main points can be concluded [15]:  
* There are 113 policies in force with Australia leading the way (17 policies) followed by United States (USA) (8) and Portugal with Japan (6);
* The earliest policy was released in 2004 \"Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program\" (United States);
* In 2023 six countries introduced hydrogen-related policies (Italy, Argentina, India, Denmark, Oman and Estonia);
* Overall, Europe is leading the way with 50 policies (EU accounts for 31) followed by Asia Pacific region (28) and North America (12);* The majority of policies (109) are related to hydrogen production and supply including 49 dedicated solely to hydrogen electrolysis technologies. The future hydrogen demand until 2050 has been projected by PwC and shows moderate growth until 2030 after which demand will increase more substantially beyond 2035 [16]. The rise of the hydrogen fuel demand across sectors in the USA is projected to increase from 1% to 14% of the total final energy balance in 2030-2050 [17]. It is widely accepted that by 2050 globally consumed hydrogen in various forms needs to be low carbon from the beginning and ultimately green. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) World Energy Transition Outlook 2022 [18] foresees that green and blue hydrogen production will grow from negligible levels to 19 EJ (154 million tonnes) by 2030 and over 74 EJ (614 million tonnes) by 2050. The International Energy Agency's (IEA) report Net Zero by 2050 [19] gives the prediction that global hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuel use will reach 530 million tonnes. Around 75% of this amount is planned to be merchant hydrogen (hydrogen produced by one company to sell to others) and the remainder (about 25%) will be produced within industrial facilities (including refineries), making the industry an important sector player in the future.