On the Commission delegated regulation of 8 July 2025 supplementing Directive (EU) 2024/1788 of the European Parliament and of the Council by… specifying a methodology for assessing greenhouse gas emissions savings from low-carbon fuels

B100457/2025

European Parliament resolution on the Commission delegated regulation of 8 July 2025 supplementing Directive (EU) 2024/1788 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying a methodology for assessing greenhouse gas emissions savings from low-carbon fuels

(C(2025)04674 – 2025/2809(DEA))

The European Parliament,

–having regard to the Commission delegated regulation of 8 July 2025 supplementing Directive (EU) 2024/1788 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying a methodology for assessing greenhouse gas emissions savings from low-carbon fuels (C(2025)04674),

–having regard to Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2024/1788 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on common rules for the internal markets for renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen, amending Directive (EU) 2023/1791 and repealing Directive 2009/73/EC, and in particular Articles 9(5) and 90(6) thereof,

–having regard to the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1184 of 10 February 2023 supplementing Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing a Union methodology setting out detailed rules for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin,

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2023/2413 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 October 2023 amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001, Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 and Directive 98/70/EC as regards the promotion of energy from renewable sources, and repealing Council Directive (EU) 2015/652,

– having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “A Competitiveness Compass for the EU” (COM(2025)0030),

– having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “The Clean Industrial Deal: A joint roadmap for competitiveness and decarbonisation” (COM(2025)0085),

– having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “Action Plan for Affordable Energy” (COM(2025)0079),

–having regard to Rule 114(3) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas the hydrogen market uptake in Europe is lagging behind its expectations due to an unclear regulatory environment which consequently undermines the Union’s competitiveness; whereas the existing state of play discourages companies from making a decision to invest in the production of hydrogen;

B.whereas the European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) Special report 11/2024 found that the hydrogen market is only partially developed and the ambitious targets for renewable hydrogen set by the REPowerEU plan and Directive (EU) 2023/2413 of the European Parliament and of the Council are unlikely to be met; whereas the report called for a "reality check" of the Union’s objectives and urged future strategies to be based on sound assessments;

C.whereas the production of low-carbon hydrogen enables the achievement of the Union’s decarbonisation goals across different key sectors including energy, transport and industry;

D.whereas the technology-neutral principle must be upheld for the production of low-carbon hydrogen;

E.whereas each Member State has, in accordance with Article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, a right to determine its own energy mix;

F.whereas the proposed low-carbon delegated regulation contains a number of shortcomings that could lead to hampering the uptake of low-carbon hydrogen in Europe;

1.Objects to the Commission delegated regulation;

2.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and to notify it that the delegated regulation cannot enter into force;

3.Reiterates the importance of scaling up low-carbon hydrogen in the Union in order to safeguard the Union’s competitiveness and regain its position on a global level, while serving as a complementary fuel to renewable hydrogen;

4.Considers that the proposed delegated act would make low-carbon hydrogen production in the Union nearly impossible by imposing restrictive and unworkable emission calculation rules, posing a critical threat to the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries and ultimately the Union's climate ambitions;

5.Points out that the proposed delegated regulation creates disproportionately high administrative burdens for manufacturers, in light of the disproportionately complex methodology for calculating the carbon footprint and the fact that monthly reporting is not consistent with the usual annual product carbon footprint reports. Such a significant administrative burden would have a direct impact on the price of low-carbon hydrogen and thus on the competitiveness of European companies. The continuing increase in the administrative burden on economic operators directly contradicts the findings of the Draghi report and strategic initiatives such as the Competitiveness Compass and the Clean Industrial Deal;

6.Draws attention to ECA Special report 11/2024 which stipulated that Union targets for renewable hydrogen turned out to be overly ambitious and based on the available information from Member States and industry, the Union is unlikely to meet them by 2030; notes the ECA recommendation to calibrate market incentives for renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production and use, as well as to consider regional and industrial sector specificities and the role of low-carbon hydrogen;

7.Stresses that the delegated regulation is discriminatory and prevents the production of low-carbon hydrogen, particularly in Member States that do not have access to extensive renewable resources other than biomass, or where nuclear power is an important part of the energy mix;

8.Calls on the Commission to submit a new delegated regulation by mid-2026, which takes account of the following recommendations:

(a)to streamline the methodology for calculating the carbon footprint in line with methodologies used in other areas in order to use guarantees of origin to prove the carbon footprint of the electricity used as input, or data from the electricity supplier;

(b)to ensure that a clear and simple methodology for calculating the carbon footprint recognises low-carbon hydrogen production from non-renewable sources, including production from natural gas involving CCS, biomass, biomethane as well as zero-carbon energy from nuclear power plants;

(c)to speed-up the nuclear fuel production study in order to supplement the technologically neutral wording of the new delegated regulation, including direct connection to nuclear sources, with those results;

(d)to withdraw from postponing the assessment of nuclear Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) until the 2028 revision, which would only deepen legislative uncertainty and slow down hydrogen development in Europe;

(e)to allow the use of nuclear PPAs instead of using the overall energy mix of the Member State;

(f)to include a grandfathering clause for methane as well as hydrogen emissions to provide investors with a sufficient level of certainty in case of possible future and unforeseen changes to the methodology;

(g)to remove the sunset clause set on 1st January 2041 in section A, paragraph 10, point (a) of Annex I as the end date for eligibility of CO2 stemming from industrial sources;

9.Calls on the Commission to allow the use of low-carbon hydrogen to meet the targets set for renewable fuels of non-biological origin for industry and transport, as set out in Directive (EU) 2023/2413;

10.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States.