The European hydrogen strategy is closely aligned with the demands of the Hydrogen Europe lobby group, including the targets and investments needed for hydrogen both inside and outside the Union. The total amount of requested investments is €430 billion by 2030, and the European Commission seems willing to support the industry’s plans, which will allow it to reuse fossil-gas infrastructure, revitalising them with public funds and under the guise of making them ready to transport hydrogen.
It is no coincidence that the EU’s oversized and underutilised fossil gas pipeline network has been rebranded as Europe’s future ‘hydrogen backbone’ by the oil and gas lobby and it would be used to resurrect mega-projects, with obvious economic benefits for the energy oligopolies and negative impacts on the communities and territories on which these projects will be located.
In this second webinar, we will look at the hydrogen routes running through the Mediterranean area, discovering why these projects are not green at all, as they exemplify a model that perpetuates the promotion of mega-infrastructures built through public-private partnerships that lead to serious environmental and social impacts, even outside European borders.
Speakers:
Elena Gerebizza, Researcher and energy and infrastructure campaigner, ReCommon: The SoutH2 Corridor. Will it be built and with what implications?
Rita Prates, Project officer, Zero: H2Med: the impacts of the Celza project in Portugal
Josep Nualart Corpas, Researcher on energy and climate at Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (ODG): A priority country for hydrogen exports to Europe: what consequences for Chile?
Moderator: Eva Pastorelli, CEE Bankwatch Network
This webinar is organized by ReCommon and Observatori del Deute en la Globalització within the “Citizens’ Observatory for Green Deal Financing” project, financed by European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), and it’s the second of a series that will continue over the coming months.