Hydrogen regulation – whereto?
Fit for 55 Package is big on the agenda. The upcoming Hydrogen and Decarbonised Gas Package is a crucial brick for the future energy system, that must give people the safe, predictable, and affordable lifestyles they want to lead. Growing demand for renewable and low-carbon gases means we’ll need to transport, store, import and export large volumes of gases in various forms. And Europe’s gas infrastructure is up for this challenge. But for this, we need the right conditions for an EU-wide infrastructure to scale up renewable and lowcarbon gases, including hydrogen. In today’s debate on the future regulation of the hydrogen infrastructure, we heard that:
• Delivering climate neutrality by 2050 and achieving the targets of the EU Hydrogen Strategy requires a well-developed infrastructure for hydrogen. GIE members are ready to live up to this expectation;
• The most efficient way to regulate hydrogen infrastructure is to build on the basic principles of the existing regulation for natural gas, while leaving Member States the flexibility to reflect on national and regional hydrogen characteristics;
• Different hydrogen developments across the EU require tailored solutions to enable hydrogen market ramp-up in every country;
• There will be huge cost and time savings by repurposing existing infrastructure to integrate hydrogen. This will lead to social benefits and increase social acceptance for energy transition;
• We need hydrogen storage to balance and ensure the resilience of a future energy system that relies significantly on renewable energy sources;
• A framework to guarantee cost-recovery for investments into hydrogen infrastructure is needed for long-term planning security of infrastructure operators;
• There is a strong need for coordinated system planning between gas, electricity, and hydrogen infrastructures, including storages and LNG terminals. 
Tudor Constantinescu, Principal Advisor at DG ENER, said that “Hydrogen, in particular from renewables, is a key enabler for achieving the Green Deal objectives. While upscaling supply and demand, modernising and further developing the energy infrastructure will be essential to develop a more integrated, cost-effective and decarbonised energy system. Establishing an adequate policy and regulatory framework in this respect is very much at the core of the Fit for 55 Package.”
Dennis Hesseling, Head of Infrastructure, Gas and Retail Department at ACER, highlighted that “Hydrogen transportation infrastructure needs to be regulated in a gradual way, taking into account the development of the hydrogen sector over time and minimising the degree of cross-subsidies. To ensure a proper and competitive market structure, key successful elements from the existing natural gas legislation, such as unbundling and non-discriminatory third-party access, need to be ensured in EU legislation.”
Ralph Bahke, GIE’s sponsor of New Gases Area mentioned that “Hydrogen will be a key energy carrier in our future decarbonized energy system. To exploit its full potential, a dedicated infrastructure for hydrogen is needed to guarantee secure transport, storage and import. The legislative framework must unleash the possibilities of gas infrastructure for the integration of hydrogen by enabling gas infrastructure operators to make the necessary investments.”
Dr. Axel Wietfeld, President of Gas Storage Europe said that “underground hydrogen storage will be a key component of a carbon-neutral economy. All across Europe, large and small storage system operators are developing innovative hydrogen solutions to enhance the European Union’s security of energy supplies.”
Helmie Botter, Manager Business Development Hydrogen at Gasunie, highlighted that “to enable hydrogen to play its essential role in the energy mix of the future, we need the whole value chain to be developed. From transport infrastructure, to supply and demand, and to storage. Especially supply stimulation policies deserve attention, together with a general financial and regulatory framework that supports hydrogen development.”
Jan Ingwersen, General Director at ENTSOG said: ““ENTSOG believes in the importance of defining key regulatory principles from the outset. These will be crucial in facilitating the efficient and economical development of hydrogen infrastruct

The switch from coal to gas – a central step for quick decarbonisation of the society.
Here are the main messages we heard on the power of switching from coal to gas in some of EU’s countries and regions:
• There is no one-size-fits-all solution across the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. One thing is clear: for a just transition, national and regional specificities must be considered.
• Current high energy prices show the risk and vulnerability of energy poverty. The heating sector is at stake in here. The gas infrastructure is committed to not leave anyone behind by delivering affordable natural, renewable and low-carbon gases;
• Replacing coal combustion by using natural gas enables quick and affordable decarbonization wins;
• Reducing reliance on coal reduces air pollution and hence, improves air quality and health for citizens.
• As a next step, the uptake and full switch to new gases would be the solution as well, with a role not only for hydrogen, but as well for biogas, biomethane, synthetic gas, ammonia, etc. Bulgarian MEP Tsvetelina Penkova mentioned “Taking into account the specifics of each region would be the key for a successful energy transition. Climate neutrality by 2050 can only be achieved if we all work together in decarbonising our economy. Ecological, economic and social transition must go hand in hand – with no single European citizen, region or member state left behind.”
Piotr Kus, GIE’s sponsor of CH4 Area stressed that “the flexibility of the gas infrastructure is an essential element to achieve the climate targets of the EU. The switch from coal to natural gas in the short-tomid-term and to renewable and low-carbon gases in the mid-to-long-term will guarantee an efficient,stable and affordable transition of our energy system for all end-users. Gas infrastructure operatorscan deliver all these developments.”
Collaboration for the methane emissions abatement
To deliver the goals of EC Green Deal and accelerate the energy transition, the European Commission has under preparation a legislative proposal on Methane Emissions for the energy support as it was announced in the EU Strategy to reduce methane emissions published in October 2020.
On the 18th of September of 2021, The European Union and the United States announced the  Global Methane Pledge, an initiative to reduce global methane emissions to be launched at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in November in Glasgow. Gas operators continue taking action to support the European Commission and to effectively and responsibly further address methane emissions.
Methane emissions are accountable for a quarter of today’s global warming. In fact, their environmental impact comes right after carbon dioxide’s one. This gives a good idea of how crucial methane emissions are to enable climate-neutrality.
Reducing methane emissions will benefit to the whole society, the environment, and the economy by reducing the costs of the energy transition and the European gas industry as a whole has a crucial role to play in all that process, joining forces and collaborating towards a decarbonised future.
Francisco de La Flor – GIE Board Member explains:
Joining voluntary and mandatory programmes, gas industry players have been working for many years to minimise methane emissions of their facilities. Emission reductions are being achieved thanks to the implementation of ambitious leak detection and repair programmes as well as the progressive reduction of venting and flaring. It’s in an ongoing process. We are implementing the best available techniques to mitigate emissions and we keep looking to improve those technologies. Each time, we take into consideration the safety of our workers as well as the citizens. Technical and environmental aspects are also part of the equation

Numerous joint initiatives are already in place or under development, as detailed in theAction Plan on Methane Emissions that was developed after the report Potential ways the gas industry can contribute to the reduction of methane emissions:
• The OGMP 2.0 - the new gold standard reporting framework that will improve the reporting accuracy and transparency of anthropogenic methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.
• Methane Emissions Glossary – a tool meant to help need to adopt a common terminology understandable by each actor of the EU ecosystem
• Guidelines for Methane Emissions target setting
• Energy Community Methane Emissions Mondays meetings, with the support of GIE and MARCOGAZ
• GERG “Technology Benchmark for site level methane emissions quantification”, which is divided in different phases. Phase I, study of the state of the art of these technologies. Phase II.A is being developed with excellent results, it consist in a series of tests with blind controlled releases to analyse the ability of 12 technologies.
• MARCOGAZ Technical recommendation on LDAR campaigns
• MARCOGAZ technical recommendations on venting & flaring
• Cooperation with new technology providers like satellite imagery geolocation data interpretation
• Project on measurement and modelling of environmental impact of LNG carriers.
• Methane Guiding principles: A Toolkit (a set of recommended Guides, Synopses and
Tools, which support the uptake and implementation of the Reducing Methane Emissions: Best Practices)
• CEN standard (under development ) to quantify methane emissions in gas Mid/downstream assets
Who is GIE
Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) is the association representing the interests of European gas infrastructure operators. GIE members are active in transmission, storage and regasification via LNG terminals of renewable and low-carbon gases, including natural gas and hydrogen. Gathering around 70 industry entities from 27 European countries, GIE perfectly embodies the multiple transitional decarbonisation pathways of the EU regions. The association's vision is that by 2050, the gas infrastructure will be the backbone of the new innovative energy system, allowing European citizens and industries to benefit from a secure, efficient and sustainable energy supply.