12.1.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 15/51 Wednesday 19 May 2021
20.
Welcomes the adoption of the European Hydrogen Strategy; stresses that priority should be given to building a renewable hydrogen supply chain in Europe to foster first-mover advantages, industrial competitiveness and the security of energy supply; is convinced that renewable and low-carbon hydrogen can help reduce persistent emissions, such as those from industrial processes and heavy transport, where direct electrification might be limited due to low cost-efficiency or technical, social and environmental reasons; recalls the need to accelerate the decarbonisation of existing hydrogen production; supports the launch of important projects of common European interest on hydrogen; calls on the Commission to develop a comprehensive classification and certification framework of gaseous carriers on the basis of the full life cycle GHG emissions savings and sustainability criteria, in line with the approach set out in the Renewable Energy Directive on the promotion of renewable energy; stresses that such a classification is of utmost importance for market players, authorities and consumers; underlines the need to develop a robust framework and appropriate baseline to ensure that sufficient additional renewable energy generation capacity is deployed in proportion to the need for renewable hydrogen; calls on the Commission to consider this diversity of needs in its forthcoming legislative proposals; calls on the Commission to guarantee a fair and efficient competition between hydrogen that is imported from international partners and hydrogen that is produced in the EU;
21.
Underlines the role that environmentally safe carbon capture storage and utilisation (CCS/U) could play in reaching the European Green Deal objectives; supports an integrated policy context to stimulate the uptake of environmentally safe CCS/U applications that deliver a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to make heavy industry climate neutral where no direct emission reduction options are available; notes the Commission’s proposal to convene an annual European CCUS Forum as part of the Clean Energy Industrial Forum to further study options to foster such projects; recalls the need to prioritise direct emission reductions and actions maintaining and enhancing the EU’s natural sinks and reservoirs, for instance through sustainable forest management;
22.
Highlights that transport can be a significant facilitator of renewable energy deployment; calls on the Commission and Member States to propose a favourable policy framework and ambitious targets based on the principle of technology neutrality among those technologies necessary to achieve climate neutrality, for a just, affordable and balanced transition towards the decarbonisation of all passenger and freight transport modes, including public fleets and networks, road, maritime, inland waterborne, rail and air transport primarily through electrification, and where this is not possible, sustainably-produced fuels; welcomes the Commission’s announcement of the deployment of one million charging points for electric vehicles in the revision of Directive 2014/94/EU; calls on the Commission to incentivise car manufacturers to enable vehicle-to-grid charging; stresses the need to adapt the electrification networks and infrastructure for alternative fuels for Europe’s vehicle fleet as well as to support other readily deployable solutions, notably in transport hubs; underlines the potential for internal cooperation on the decarbonisation of transport across borders; highlights in this respect the critical role of the Transport Community and the Commission in order to create synergies with neighbouring countries and accelerate the transfer of EU standards on transport emissions; stresses the importance of public transport in reducing energy demand and the need to develop and expand decarbonised public transport in both urban and rural areas;
23.
Stresses that there are sectors that are increasing their energy consumption, such as the transport sector, the tourism sector and the ICT sector; supports the Commission in looking into the synergies between district heating and cooling networks and sources of unavoidable waste heat; welcomes the commitment included in the EU Digital Strategy to make data centres climate-neutral by 2030; calls on the Commission to propose an action plan for the participation of the tourism sector in the process of energy system integration, looking inter alia at the promotion of rail tourism, soft and e-mobility and the creation of circular-energy communities in sustainable tourism;
Balancing energy systems
24.
Notes that maintaining the balance of electricity grids and managing demand and production peaks will be more complex with an increasingly decentralised and renewable generation mix and in this respect underlines the role of demand-side response, storage and smart energy management; highlights that moving towards decentralised energy production has many benefits: it can foster the use of local energy sources, leading to increased local security of energy supply, community development and cohesion by providing new sources of income and creating new jobs; recalls that Member States remain free to determine their energy mix, the diversity of which is fundamental to ensuring security of supply;