Safety-related activities in the Clean Hydrogen Partnership

The Clean Hydrogen Partnership (as per its legal name Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking) is a unique public-private partnership supporting research and innovation (R&I) activities in hydrogen technologies in Europe. The Clean Hydrogen JU is the successor of FCH 2 JU and was established in November 2021. With the mission of facilitating the transition to a greener EU society through the development of hydrogen technologies, the overall goal of the Clean Hydrogen JU is to support research and innovation (R&I) activities in the EU in clean hydrogen solutions and technologies, under the EU’s funding Programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe, and in synergy with other EU initiatives and Programmes. The EU supports the Clean Hydrogen JU with €1 billion euro for 2021-2027, complemented by at least an equivalent amount of private investment (from the partnership's private members of the partnership. Moreover, in the RePowerEU communication, the EU is additionally supporting the JU with 200 million euros for further developing the Hydrogen Valleys in Europe.

Safety is paramount for frictionless development, perception, acceptance of and trust in new technologies in modern society. Hydrogen is nowadays recognised as a key clean energy vector and hydrogen-based technologies are undergoing rapid expansion across multiple applications. This is a result of the credibility it has built up as a clean, flexible, versatile, reliable, and safe technology.

The JU's commitment to hydrogen safety is sound and the JU supports numerous activities focused on hydrogen safety, contributing to reach a high-level degree of hydrogen safety while contributing to building the confidence needed for widespread take-up and safe deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

The Clean Hydrogen JU is addressing hydrogen safety-related aspects from different perspectives: in research and innovation projects, through the collaboration on safety aspects with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and through the activities undertaken by European Hydrogen Safety Panel (EHSP). The presentation provides an overview of the hydrogen safety-related activities supported by the Clean Hydrogen JU programme for a safe rollout of the FCH technologies in Europe and beyond.