Clean hydrogen plays a key role in the race to decarbonise numerous sectors of our economy. As the core piece of the European Green Deal, renewable hydrogen will contribute considerably to the green energy transition.
To match the unprecedented interest in hydrogen and fuel cells technologies, and mark the adoption of the EU Hydrogen Strategy in July, The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) are pleased to announce the first edition of the European Hydrogen Week.
This entire week of events from 23 to 27 November 2020 will be dedicated to the essential role of hydrogen in reaching EU’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
European Commission ambition on hydrogen is extremely high, as a key priority to achieve the European Green Deal and Europe’s clean energy transition. New initiatives such as the Clean Hydrogen Alliance and its European Hydrogen Forum are asking that all actors, public and private, at European national and regional level, must work together, across the entire value chain, to build a dynamic hydrogen ecosystem in Europe. All these issues will be featured in the first European Hydrogen Week.
The Hydrogen Week will benefit from intervention of Ministers from EU and outside Europe, five EU Commissioners, five Director Generals, many leading figures of the EU industry and top researchers will speak and debate the best way to implement the European Hydrogen strategy.
Overview of Week
Bertrand Piccard will be opening the week, he has launched the challenge of selecting 1,000 solutions that can protect the environment in a profitable way and awards them with the Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions Label.
Monday and Tuesday (23 and 24 Nov) will be the FCH JU Programme Review Days. These will provide an excellent visibility platform for more than 100 projects currently ongoing under FCH JU.
Wednesday (25 Nov) will be the PrioritHy: How hydrogen can bring recovery, growth and jobs for Europe event, organised together with National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW), the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and with the support of the European Commission.
In the morning, regional best-practice approaches will be discussed, to build up a hydrogen economy. Germany has a HyLands initiative which is very similar to our Hydrogen Valleys in Europe. Recently, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned in her State of the Union address: “I want to see more hydrogen valleys in Europe.”
In the afternoon, the international perspective will be discussed. The European Hydrogen Strategy talks about working internationally in order to import hydrogen
Thursday and Friday (26 and 27 Nov) will be the European Hydrogen Forum, organised by the European Commission and FCH JU.
Thursday will be a high-level conference featuring a keynote speech by the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans. Under the theme Kick-starting the EU hydrogen industry to achieve the EU climate goals, focusing on four blocks: society, industry, research and investment.
Friday (27 Nov) will be a closed session especially for the Alliance members. One of the objectives of the Alliance is to create an investment agenda for hydrogen and create a pipeline of projects.
