EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for “Coordinated call with India on waste to renewable hydrogen” (HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D2-08)

1. Single Market Access – 450 + Million Consumers, One Set of Rules

• Pan-EU deployment potential: Demonstrators validated in one Member State can be commercialised across the entire EU without re-certification if they comply with EU safety and product legislation (ATEX, PED, RED, CE-marking, upcoming Hydrogen & Decarbonised Gas Market package).

• Unified sustainability labelling: Results feed directly into the Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO) and upcoming EU hydrogen certification schemes, giving early market acceptance and premium pricing across all 27 countries.

• Public procurement leverage: Successful pilots qualify under EU Clean Vehicles Directive and Green Public Procurement criteria, opening demand from 80,000+ public authorities.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Mandatory EU-India coordination already creates an international dimension; the Horizon structure allows adding partners from *any* Member State or Associated Country, fostering a truly multinational value chain (feedstock logistics in SE Europe, catalysts from DE/NL, reactor design from IT/FR, digital twins from FI, etc.).

• Free movement of researchers & samples under the Schengen and Horizon “unit cost for mobility” rules simplifies secondments, joint pilots and PhD exchanges.

• Pan-European testbeds: Access to EU open-access infrastructures (e.g., ReSOLVE, BRISK2, HYDROGEN TEST-NET) at reduced rates through Trans-National Access schemes.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• European Green Deal & Fit-for-55: Direct contribution to 2×40 GW renewable hydrogen ambition and waste hierarchy targets.

• Circular Economy Action Plan: Valorises *non-recyclable* biogenic waste, converting an EU liability (~80 Mt/y) into strategic energy.

• Mission Innovation & Global Gateway: Supports EU geopolitical hydrogen diplomacy while de-risking supply chains.

• Soil & Biodiversity Strategies: Life-cycle assessments demanded by the call feed data into the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) database.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• One sustainability methodology: Using EU Taxonomy, RED III and delegated acts for GHG accounting avoids 27 different national calculations.

• IPR certainty: Horizon Model Grant Agreement offers unitary foreground ownership rules recognised in all Member States, streamlining exploitation with Indian co-owners.

• Safety convergence: Collaboration with the European Hydrogen Safety Panel (EHSP) grants access to harmonised risk assessment templates adopted by CEN/CENELEC.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Synergies with 70+ European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs): Fast-track support for AI-driven feedstock logistics and process-control digital twins.

• Clusters & Partnerships: Plug-and-play collaboration with Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, Circular Bio-Based Europe JU, Process4Planet, EIT InnoEnergy, and Hydrogen Valleys.

• Talent pool: Recruitment via EURAXESS and Marie Skłodowska-Curie networks; simplifies hiring of top scientists for joint EU-India work packages.

6. Funding Synergies & Leveraging Other Instruments

• Cascade financing: Regional ERDF / Just Transition Fund can co-finance pilot plants or regional hydrogen hubs that host the project’s demonstrators.

• Connecting Europe Facility – Energy (CEF-E): Can later fund cross-border hydrogen backbone that uses the W2rH hydrogen.

• LIFE Clean Energy & Innovation Fund: Complementary grants for scale-up, permitting and first-of-a-kind plants post-TRL-6.

• InvestEU & EIB: Bankability studies produced under the RIA fulfil technical due-diligence requirements for future project finance.

• National Recovery & Resilience Plans (RRF): Provide capex grants for local deployment once technology is validated.

7. Economies of Scale & Impact Potential

• Feedstock aggregation: Cross-border sourcing (e.g., Baltic forestry residues, Mediterranean sewage sludge) stabilises supply and reduces €/kg H2 by up to 20 %.

• Standardised modules: EU-wide manufacturing volumes for catalysts/reactors drive learning curves; alignment with EU Machinery & Pressure Equipment directives reduces certification costs by ~30 %.

• Replicability toolkit: Deliverables (open LCA datasets, digital twins, Best Practice Guides) mandated by Horizon dissemination rules accelerate replication in Cohesion regions.

8. Strategic Value Exclusive to EU-Level Operation

1. Critical mass: Only an EU-size consortium can marshal the >€8-10 m budget that matches the Indian side while covering the full chain (feedstock → process → H2 purification → safety → LCA).

2. Resilience & Autonomy: Diversifies hydrogen production pathways, supporting Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan targets and reducing reliance on imported electrolysers or natural gas.

3. Standard-setting power: Early EU-wide demonstration shapes ISO/CEN standards, giving European firms first-mover advantage globally—including in the fast-growing Indian market.

4. Policy feedback loop: Horizon projects routinely provide evidence to DG ENER, DG RTD and JRC—positioning the consortium to influence future funding and regulation.

---

Actionable Next Steps for Applicants

• Build a consortium spanning at least 6–8 Member/Associated States to cover biomass-rich regions, technology leaders and hydrogen valleys.

• Map complementary EU funds early (LIFE, ERDF, CEF-E) and pre-align TRL-upscaling packages.

• Engage CEN/CENELEC TC 6 & TC 234 during proposal stage to embed standardisation tasks.

• Allocate ≥5 % of budget to EU-India researcher exchanges and common workshops to satisfy the “balanced effort” requirement and unlock additional MNRE resources.