EHS&CP outlines new hydrogen sustainability priorities during first workshop

A collective step forward

The renewed European Hydrogen Sustainability and Circularity Panel (EHS&CP) held its first workshop in Brussels on 11–12 June, marking a key milestone in the Panel’s mandate and its drive towards a truly sustainable hydrogen economy. The event brought together all 16 appointed experts for the first time in person and launched a constructive exchange of ideas on how to advance sustainability and circularity across Europe’s hydrogen value chain.

“Sustainability is at the heart of Europe’s hydrogen transition. At the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, we are committed to considering the full lifecycle of hydrogen technologies and are proud to be putting forward pioneering, evidence-based work that supports the European Commission objectives on sustainable development. This Panel is an important step towards ensuring that hydrogen technologies are sustainable and circular by design, while supporting European policy objectives and promoting a responsible approach to clean hydrogen technologies deployment. As hydrogen use scales up across Europe’s economy, maintaining strong sustainability and circularity principles will be essential to achieving resource efficiency and maximising the benefits of the clean energy transition.” said Mirela Atanasiu, Head of Unit Operations & Communications, Clean Hydrogen Partnership at the opening of the workshop.

A Panel with a clear mission

The workshop opened with a deep dive into the EU policy and research landscape, positioning the Panel’s work within the Union’s broader sustainability and circularity ambitions. Discussions highlighted that Europe is already a frontrunner in this space and now has the chance to set a global benchmark by ensuring that hydrogen technologies are “circular by design”. This requires robust methodologies and transparent processes that can keep pace with the rapidly developing hydrogen sector.

Building on this, the experts refined the Panel’s core activities through discussions on methodological priorities and expected deliverables. This work will be driven forward by four Task Forces, coordinated by the Panel Chair and supported by Ecorys and Grant Thornton.

Key areas of the work include:

• reviewing existing life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and LCA deliverables produced by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership funded projects,
• supporting capacity building activities,
• developing best practices and success stories to create a common understanding about hydrogen technologies sustainability challenges,
• pinpointing and addressing critical data gaps on hydrogen sustainability, and
• supporting the definition of the future sustainability priorities in the hydrogen sector.

Learning from Europe’s research landscape

The second day leveraged the strong synergy between the Panel’s mandate and the EU-funded R&I projects. The results of several flagship projects were presented, with discussions exploring how their findings and methodologies could directly support the Panel's ongoing work, including the projects:

• SH2E – presented by Javier Dufour
• eGHOST – presented by Julie Cren
• FC‑HyGuide – presented by Alessandra Zamagni
• HyTechCycling – presented by Antonio Valente
• BEST4HY – presented by Claudio Pistidda

These exchanges underscored a shared ambition: to ensure that Europe’s hydrogen sector develops not only rapidly, but also responsibly.

Looking Ahead

With its mission now firmly in motion, the Panel moves into its next phase. Members will continue working closely with the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking and the wider research community to contribute achieving Europe’s sustainability and circularity objectives.

Contact

For further information on the European Hydrogen Sustainability and Circularity Panel and its initiatives, please contact: EHSCPclean-hydrogen [dot] europa [dot] eu (EHSCP[at]clean-hydrogen[dot]europa[dot]eu)
More information on the panel can be found on the dedicated section.