. The momentum behind green hydrogen from two years ago, generated by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act IRA, has slowed amid still high costs and macroeconomic headwinds. In addition, regulatory uncertainty and a lack of committed demand are undermining the 2030 production goals for low-carbon hydrogen, both in the United States and Europe.
In Europe, the European Commission has set unrealistic hydrogen production and import targets—the EU is not on track to achieve them, the European Court of Auditors, the supreme audit institution of the EU, said in a report this summer. The Commission has been partially successful in creating the necessary conditions for the emerging hydrogen market and the hydrogen value chain in the EU, but it now needs “a reality check,” the European Court of Auditors said.