The European Commission published rules on Monday (13 February) that could allow some hydrogen produced by nuclear-based energy systems to count towards EU renewable energy goals.

The production of clean hydrogen is central to Europe’s plans to decarbonise heavy industry. The commission’s rules aim to incentivise investors and industries to shift from hydrogen produced from fossil fuels to hydrogen produced instead from renewable electricity.

However, rather than being labelled as “renewable”, hydrogen made using nuclear electricity will be termed as “low-carbon” hydrogen.