05.06.2024

Years of hydrogen cooperation between the EU and Japan have finally led to success

Several European organizations working on hydrogen signed cooperation agreements with their Japanese counterparts during a visit to Tokyo by European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.

In the Land of the Rising Sun, tackling China's cleantech dominance is becoming a priority, it reports Euractiv.

The EU has long sought closer ties with Japan on hydrogen. Discussions between the two economic giants led to a broad green agreement in 2021 and an EU-Japan Hydrogen Cooperation Memorandum in late 2022.

Based on these previous exchanges, a business delegation accompanied Simson on her visit to Japan to turn verbal commitments into real agreements.

"Hydrogen will be an internationally traded commodity and close cooperation between the EU and Japan will be essential to promote renewable and low-carbon hydrogen globally," said Simson.

Facilitating the cooperation, the main players in the hydrogen sector in Europe - the German funding fund H2Global with €5 billion, the lobby group Hydrogen Europe and the EU Hydrogen Bank with €3 billion, and the research organization "Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking" with €1 billion – signed agreements with their Japanese counterparts.

The move is expected to have an impact on the global regulatory race to define hydrogen, something EU policymakers see as their core competence.

"Europe and Japan were the first globally and we need to jointly manage the process of setting standards and certification schemes," says Yorgo Chatsimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe.

Japan's hydrogen strategy, last updated in 2023, maintains an industry-friendly trade-off regarding the greenness of production.

Subsidies are available for hydrogen, which emits up to 3,4 kg of CO2 per kg when produced. This means that hydrogen using natural gas receives government subsidies, even if only 66% of the resulting carbon emissions are captured.

"We can learn a lot from Japanese pragmatism," adds Chatsimarkakis.

A more substantial industrial agreement between Kawasaki Heavy Industry and the EU's Daimler Trucks (both companies see a major role for hydrogen in heavy-duty trucks) was similarly announced by the Commission but has not yet been signed.

"The two companies are jointly exploring the creation and optimization of parts of the liquid hydrogen supply chain," a Daimler Truck spokesman said.

Competition from China

Energy Commissioner Simson and Japan's Economy Minister Ken Saitoni put the spotlight on common competitor China.

“We share a deep concern about economic dependence on specific sources of supply of strategic goods. We do not accept the use of a wide range of non-market policies and practices, such as market-distorting industrial subsidies," the two said in a joint statement.

This is a clear warning to China, which is being investigated by the EU for distorting electric vehicle markets. Several Chinese or Chinese-linked firms have pulled out of tenders after being targeted by an EC investigation into subsidies.