Federal Court of Auditors report
📢 Germany Must Revise Its Hydrogen Strategy under the Federal Court of Auditors (Bundesrechnungshof) Report
✅ Main Findings:
📌 The German government considers hydrogen a key pillar of the energy transition, aiming for Germany to become climate-neutral by 2045.
📌 The federal government has already allocated more than €7 billion in funding, mainly as subsidies, for 2024 and 2025. Despite this significant financial commitment, the objectives of the national hydrogen strategy have not yet been achieved.
📌 The Federal Court of Auditors found that both supply and demand for green hydrogen in Germany have not developed as planned. A sufficient hydrogen supply is intended to come from domestic production and at least half from imports. However, the German government will not meet its domestic production targets for green hydrogen by 2030, nor will anticipated import volumes cover the expected demand.
📌 Green hydrogen remains significantly more expensive than fossil fuels such as natural gas. Since competitive production or import prices are not foreseeable in the near future, long-term government subsidies are likely to remain necessary. To bridge the price gap between hydrogen and natural gas, import costs alone could place a burden of €3 to €25 billion on the federal budget by 2030.
☑️ Reality Check
The Federal Court of Auditors recommends that the Federal Government:
- review the hydrogen strategy and its current implementation, reassessing whether and when green hydrogen can be made available in sufficient quantities, at competitive prices;
- evaluate, as part of this review, the actual contribution the hydrogen economy can make to the energy transition as a whole;
- revise the hydrogen strategy to ensure that supply, demand, and infrastructure are developed as synchronously and cost-effectively as possible; and
- develop a “Plan B”, if necessary, to achieve climate neutrality by 2045, even without a permanently subsidised hydrogen economy.