Hydrogen Council meeting with with European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas

A Hydrogen Council CEO Delegation led by our Co-Chair Francois Jackow, CEO of Air Liquide, met with European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas in Brussels today for an action-oriented discussion on opportunities to boost Europe’s security and resilience with hydrogen and its derivatives.

EU’s resilience rests on the combination of home-grown European energy and trusted trade and technology partnerships. Decarbonization and resilience are not trade-offs. They require the same investment.

Reaching the EU’s 2040 climate goals while strengthening competitiveness requires both direct electrification and hydrogen at scale across industry and transport.

➡️Our focus: turning ambition into delivery by unlocking demand across three priority areas.

1️⃣Road transport – battery and hydrogen fuel cell technologies must scale in parallel to reach climate goals and support industrial competitiveness.
📝We called for: synchronized rollout of vehicles and infrastructure, large-scale refueling stations, and the rapid build-out of liquid hydrogen supply chains to cut costs and enable scale.

2️⃣Maritime – clean ammonia solutions are ready for scale, clear rules are now essential. Clean ammonia can diversify Europe’s marine fuel mix and reduce fossil fuel import exposure.
📝 We called for: Strengthening REFuelEU Maritime, EU ETS for maritime, and CBAM, while advancing the IMO Net-Zero Framework at the global level, to give investors the confidence to deploy capital both in Europe and beyond.

3️⃣Aviation – eSAF is critical to strengthening the sector’s resilience and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
📝We called for: firm implementation of ReFuelEU Aviation sub-mandates and carbon pricing, repurposing penalty revenues to support deployment, and accelerating book-and-claim systems to scale the market.

The bottom line: Industry and policymakers must deliver this together. The right signals, mandates, carbon pricing and funding instruments will determine whether Europe leads or follows.

Thank you Commissioner Tzitzikostas for your leadership and our continued collaboration.

Thank you to our CEO delegation: Francois Jackow; Hans-Olav Raen; Beate Grota; Kim Hedegaard; Mohammad El-Ramahi; Mark Freymueller; and Felicie Burelle.

With thanks to our Head of Policy and Advocacy Daria Nochevnik, VP European & International Affairs at Air Liquide, Laurent DUBLANCHET and the team supporting the delegation.