Climate change funds at risk! - According to experts, the EU could channel them into dirty energy projects
The European Commission has announced a list of 235 cross-border energy projects that risk prolonging the use of fossil fuels even as they benefit from access to EU climate funds, according to experts and civil society groups.
At least 100 hydrogen infrastructure projects are eligible to receive funding under the bloc's law to develop cross-border energy infrastructure.
Critics argue that more than 90% of these projects were submitted by gas transmission operators, which contradicts the 2022 revision of the law, which aims to align the energy and climate objectives of the EU-27.
The total investment for these projects exceeds 80 billion euros, excluding the significant subsidies needed to create demand for hydrogen. Experts warn that the pipeline projects will be very expensive and will likely end up transporting natural gas.
Some of these include a planned network of hydrogen pipelines connecting multiple countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal, to facilitate the transportation of hydrogen.
Other projects connect the regions of Central and Southeastern Europe, including Romania, Greece and Bulgaria.
Civil society organizations argue that these plans show how old fossil gas pipeline projects are now being green-lighted as "hydrogen-ready."
A 2024 report by the bloc's energy regulator, ACER, warns that current hydrogen grid plans are built on "aspirations rather than concrete market needs", increasing the risk of overinvestment and under-utilised infrastructure that citizens will ultimately pay for.
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