Declaration on establishing a green hydrogen economy and a third industrial revolution in Europe through a partnership with committed regions and cities, SMEs and civil society organisations

The European Parliament adopted a Declaration on establishing a green hydrogen economy and a third industrial revolution in Europe through a partnership with committed regions and cities, SMEs and civil society organisations. It felt that a post-fossil fuel and post-nuclear energy vision should be the next important project of the European Union, and that the five key factors for energy independence were: maximising energy efficiency, reducing global-warming gas emissions, optimising the commercial introduction of renewable energies, establishing hydrogen fuel-cell technology to store renewable energies and creating smart power grids to distribute energy.

Consequently, Parliament called on the EU Institutions to:

- pursue a 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020;

- reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels);

- produce 33% of electricity and 25% of overall energy from renewable energy sources by 2020;

- institute hydrogen fuel-cell storage technology, and other storage technologies, for portable, stationary and transport uses and establish a decentralised bottom-up hydrogen infrastructure by 2025 in all EU Member States;

- make power grids smart and independent by 2025 so that regions, cities, SMEs and citizens can produce and share energy in accordance with the same open-access principles as apply to the internet now.