What's stopping Europe from reaching its clean hydrogen goals?

In this episode of Business Planet, Euronews reporter Andrea Bolitho travels to Spain to see how a global leader in the renewable energy sector is maximising green hydrogen's potential.

The EU's regulatory advisor for renewable energy giant, Iberdrola, told Euronews that Europe can't rely on just one method to decarbonise heavy industry and other polluting sectors.

"Direct electrification is not always feasible or cost efficient so that’s where you need renewable hydrogen," Blandine Malvault said.

While the EU has pinned green hydrogen as one of the fuels of the future and aims to generate 10 million tonnes while importing a further 10 million tonnes by the end of the decade, renewable hydrogen production in Europe was just 20,000 tonnes in 2022.

Furthermore, 96 per cent of hydrogen was produced with natural gas, resulting in significant carbon emissions.

"We need a clear regulation and a clear permitting process, and we need access to the [energy] grid," explained Carlos Fúnez Guerra, the Green Hydrogen Development Manager at Iberdrola.

Hydrogen is the most abundant substance in the universe. When burned it creates energy and water as a by-product. It relies on another form of energy in the production process, historically this other source was fossil fuels.

To make green hydrogen, a producer needs an electrolyser - a device capable of splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Green hydrogen doesn't omit harmful carbon gases and has the potential to replace fossil fuels in the steel-making and heavy transport industries. Steel alone produces around seven per cent of CO2 emissions globally.

Green hydrogen also has the potential to drive the growth of renewable energy (as its production requires electricity from