More than 50 organisations and companies from Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Italy have signed an appeal to the European Commission to suspend the binding target for renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO), including renewable hydrogen, in industry until 2030. The initiative was launched by the Polish Chamber of the Chemical Industry (PIPC).
The signatories also call for the 2035 target to be reassessed and for greater technological neutrality. They argue that the current RFNBO targets do not sufficiently reflect what European companies can realistically achieve in their transition. Under the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive, industry is required to cover a rising share of its hydrogen use with RFNBO, with milestones set for 2030 and 2035.
Tomasz Zieliński, president of PIPC, said decarbonisation requires large investment and that companies must first have conditions that allow them to make it. He said the pace of hydrogen regulation should not outrun what European industry can deliver, and that the aim is not to weaken climate ambition but to keep it achievable without eroding Europe’s manufacturing base.
The appeal is an industry position and the Commission has not responded in the material received. For the Baltic region, the debate bears on demand for green hydrogen, which offshore wind developers in the Baltic Sea and the ports and grids around it count on as a future market for electricity and molecules. A pause in the industrial target would change the timing of that demand in Poland, one of the largest chemical producers in the region.
