Sweden at the bottom: High time for a national hydrogen strategy!
In June, Italy inaugurates its national hydrogen strategy. Subsequently, Sweden is among the absolute last in the EU that does not yet have a coherent, politically decided strategy for the role of hydrogen in the transition to a sustainable society. The government should urgently produce an action-oriented strategy, anchored with business.
Most people now realize that hydrogen gas has a central role in reaching the climate goals we have agreed on globally with the Paris Agreement as well as at the EU level with Fit for 55 for the year 2030 and climate neutrality in the year 2050. In Sweden, hydrogen gas has a particularly important role because it is the key for heavy industry’s conversion, while we have a large proportion of transport that is difficult to electrify, not least in shipping and aviation. Thanks to our high proportion of fossil-free and renewable electricity in the electricity system, we have better conditions to produce green hydrogen than all other EU countries. We also have leading players in most parts of the hydrogen value chain.
In addition, Sweden has the most far-reaching climate goals for the transport sector, with a requirement for a 70 percent reduction in emissions from 2010-2030, and the toughest emissions condition from the EU for the same year. If we miss it, we have to buy emission rights for multi-billion sums or pay hefty fines – money that would reasonably be better used for Swedish transition than sent to Brussels.
Based on this, it is strange that Sweden does not yet have a national hydrogen strategy, especially as there are already extensive, widely-rooted initiatives from, among others, the Energy Agency, Fossil-free Sweden and Energigas Sweden. Hydrogen plays a key role in meeting EU and national targets for 2030. But it’s in a hurry! Several concrete action needs have already been identified and it is time to make a decision. A national, action-oriented hydrogen strategy should already be announced as part of the national energy and climate plan Sweden must submit to the EU Commission at the end of June, with concrete measures in the autumn budget bill.
An action-oriented, successful national hydrogen strategy needs to include the following five points:
- Timetable: The government’s new energy bill sets the target of 300 TWh of fossil-free electricity by 2045, but unfortunately lacks milestones along the way, which means that the industry does not know if there is enough electricity for their investments. For hydrogen and its derivatives, targets are needed for at least 2030, 2040 and 2045, expressed as capacity and contribution to the climate goals.
- Sector cooperation: The great value of hydrogen is that it is sector-wide, for example excess electricity can be stored in hydrogen and non-recyclable waste can be recycled into hydrogen that can be used in industry and the automotive sector. In order to maximize the benefits, a hydrogen strategy needs to be sector-wide and show how collaboration with different actors is beneficial.
- Security of supply and resilience: An increased production of fossil-free hydrogen and electrofuels reduces Sweden’s vulnerability, as more energy can be stored and used for local security of supply and thus replace imported fossil fuels. This aspect is weakly developed in many of our neighboring countries’ hydrogen strategies, probably because they were developed at a time when the security situation was not considered as worrying as it is now.
- National coordination: The fact that Sweden is so very late in adopting a national hydrogen strategy can give the impression that we have low ambitions. On the contrary, in the transformation of the transport sector and industry, Sweden should become a European example for the hydrogen society, with fossil-free hydrogen, electro-fuels and fossil-free steel as messengers. It should also be a guide when we, as a country, have to concretize the EU’s AFIR directive on the availability of hydrogen and charging infrastructure for the vehicle sector, as well as the renewables directive RED III, which aims to promote the use of renewable energy. The government should quickly and clearly instruct the Energy Agency, for example, to coordinate the hydrogen transition in the long term. National coordination requires clarity about roles and responsibilities, both in terms of authorities and other actors who will invest in the transition.
- Business profitability: The independent research institute IVL states that those who have “invested in hydrogen already today have done so because they believe in the technology and its role in the transition and see what value the investment will have in the future, rather than setting rigid demands for returns in the short term.” Such actors deserve all our praise, but for the transition to take off, it must be commercially viable. The Energy Agency states that “The emission price is not high enough today for solutions based on fossil-free hydrogen to be able to compete with corresponding fossil alternatives”. This gives the state an obvious role to quickly secure profitability, where today’s focus on partial financing of facilities needs to be supplemented by creating a rapidly increasing demand for hydrogen.
“There remain several obstacles for fossil-free hydrogen to be able to be produced, stored, transported, distributed and used to the extent required for the transition to take place,” notes the Energy Agency. It is high time to systematically deal with these obstacles, so that Sweden becomes a leading hydrogen nation. It is time for a national, action-oriented hydrogen strategy.
Björn Aronsson, CEO, Hydrogen Sweden
Mattias Goldmann, Founder, 2030 Secretariat
Maria Malmkvist, Energigas Sweden
Åsa Pettersson, CEO, Energiföretagen
Beatrice Torgnyson Klemme, CEO, BioDriv Öst
Björn Santana Arvidsson, CEO, Nordion Energi H2
Patrik Hermansson, Head of Business Development Nordics, Uniper
Christer Wikner, CEO, Metacon
Sara Wihlborg, Head of Sweden, Lhyfe
Claes Fredriksson, CEO and founder, Liquid Wind
Hillevi Priscar, Head of Sweden, OX2
Gustav Granberg, CEO, Plagazi
Magnus Sahlin, CEO, Trelleborgs Energi AB
Matilda Afzelius, CEO, RES Nordics
Peter Enå, CEO, Hydri AB
Peter Rydebrink, Managing Director, Euromekanik
Debate article has been published in Aktuell Hållbarhet 16th of May: https://www.aktuellhallbarhet.se/alla-nyheter/debatt/sverige-i-bottenstrid-hog-tid-for-nationell-vatgasstrategi/
