EMIS - An energy balancing act
Published by Emilie Grant,
Assistant Editor
World Pipelines,
Boryana Nedyalkova, Researcher, EMIS, highlights the crossroads that Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is at regarding its energy landscape and the careful balancing act between hydrogen vs methane.
Sources
- EMIS Insights CEE Natural Gas Sector Report 2025 - 2026.
- Council of the European Union, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/05/21/fit-for-55-council-signs-off-on-gas-and-hydrogen-market-package/
- Looking Beyond the Hype, Public Funding of Hydrogen in Central and Eastern Europe, Bankwatch Network, October 2024, https://bankwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024_10_31_Looking-beyond-the-hype_public-funding-of-hydrogen-in-central-and-eastern-Europe.pdf
- IEA, Northwest European Hydrogen Monitor 2025, https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/e77d3543-065d-49d8-b74c-e6a0283281ee/NorthwestEuropeanHydrogenMonitor2025.pdf
- Strategic Energy Europe, https://strategicenergy.eu/european-comission-launches-third-hydrogen-auction-with-e1-1-billion-budget
- IEA, https://www.iea.org/policies/13642-cross-border-energy-infrastructure-new-rules-for-ten-e
- The European Hydrogen Backbone, https://ehb.eu/files/downloads/EHB-Supply-corridors-presentation-ExecSum.pdf
- EP Infrastructure, https://www.epinfrastructure.cz/en/news/eustream-technologically-ready-to-transport-hydrogen-from-2023/
- DNV, https://www.dnv.com/news/2022/dnv-assesses-hydrogen-readiness-of-hungarian-gas-pipeline-216291/
- CEE Energy News, https://ceenergynews.com/interviews/romanias-tso-ready-to-take-over-the-gas-supplies-for-cee-interview-with-ion-sterian-director-general-of-transgaz/
- S&P Global, https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/latest-news/energy-transition/060625-european-commission-mulls-infringement-action-against-red-iii-transposition-laggards-dg-energy
- https://businessinsider.com.pl/gospodarka/ta-rura-poplynie-wodor-pierwszy-taki-gazociag-w-polsce/sxqny1v
- IRENA, Green Hydrogen Cost Reduction, Scaling Up Electrolysers to Meet the 1.5C Climate Goal, 2020 https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2020/Dec/IRENA_Green_hydrogen_cost_2020.pdf
- https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/get-involved/hydrogen-valleys_en#:~:text=Acknowledging%20the%20role%20of%20the,date%20can%20be%20found%20below.
- Hydrogen Europe, https://hydrogeneurope.eu/the-first-hydrogen-valley-to-be-built-in-kosice-region/
- Looking Beyond the Hype, Public Funding of Hydrogen in Central and Eastern Europe, Bankwatch Network, October 2024, https://bankwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024_10_31_Looking-beyond-the-hype_public-funding-of-hydrogen-in-central-and-eastern-Europe.pdf
- IRENA, Green Hydrogen Cost Reduction, Scaling Up Electrolysers to Meet the 1.5C Climate Goal, 2020 https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2020/Dec/IRENA_Green_hydrogen_cost_2020.pdf
- Science Direct, Joule magazine, Volume 9, Issue 7, July 16, 2025, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542435125001552#:~:text=Summary,more%20robust%20European%20climate%20strategy.
- https://hydrogeneurope.eu/hydrogen-is-key-building-block-2040-targets/
- CEE Energy News, https://ceenergynews.com/interviews/if-nothing-changes-there-will-be-no-renewable-hydrogen-production-in-czechia-qa-with-veronika-vohlidkova-executive-director-of-hytep/
- Ibid.
- https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/policy/german-chancellor-calls-on-eu-to-shelve-excessively-strict-green-hydrogen-definition/2-1-1759905
- https://cleantechnica.com/2025/02/21/hydrogen-hype-meets-hard-costs-europes-pipeline-plan-in-trouble/
- Looking Beyond the Hype, Public Funding of Hydrogen in Central and Eastern Europe, Bankwatch Network, October 2024, https://bankwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024_10_31_Looking-beyond-the-hype_public-funding-of-hydrogen-in-central-and-eastern-Europe.pdf
- European Parliament, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2025/767227/EPRS_BRI(2025)767227_EN.pdf
- Looking Beyond the Hype, Public Funding of Hydrogen in Central and Eastern Europe, Bankwatch Network, October 2024, https://bankwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024_10_31_Looking-beyond-the-hype_public-funding-of-hydrogen-in-central-and-eastern-Europe.pdf
- Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 182, August 2023, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123002289
- Hungary’s National Hydrogen Strategy, https://cdn.kormany.hu/uploads/document/a/a2/a2b/a2b2b7ed5179b17694659b8f050ba9648e75a0bf.pdf
- FleishmanHillard, National Hydrogen Strategies in the EU Member States; https://fleishmanhillard.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2022/02/FH-National-Hydrogen-Strategies-Report-2022.pdf
- Ibid.
- https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/sl/inf_24_4661
- https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/latest-news/energy-transition/060625-european-commission-mulls-infringement-action-against-red-iii-transposition-laggards-dg-energy
- Westwood Global Energy Group, “White Paper – Europe’s Hydrogen Future, How Much is Realistically Achievable?” https://www.westwoodenergy.com/news/white-papers/white-paper-europes-hydrogen-future-how-much-is-realistically-achievable
- European Parliament, DG for Parliamentary Research Services https://epthinktank.eu/2022/06/16/monitoring-the-energy-situation-in-the-eu-june-2022/gas-storage-capacity-in-the-eu/
- Geostock Group, https://www.geostockgroup.com/en/four-ways-to-store-large-quantities-of-hydrogen/#:~:text=Hydrogen%20can%20be%20stored%20in,extraction%20of%20salt%2Dsaturated%20brine.
- CEE Energy News, https://ceenergynews.com/hydrogen/poland-announces-major-changes-in-hydrogen-regulation-and-first-large-scale-hydrogen-storage-facility
- Rinnovabili, https://www.rinnovabili.net/business/energy/hydrogen-production-the-capacity-of-european-countries/#:~:text=go%20in%20order.-,Hydrogen%20production%20in%20Europe:%20number%20of%20plants%20and%20production%20capacity,year%2C%20is%20an%20excellent%20placement.
- Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, Work Programme 2025, https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/document/download/e5846471-328c-48fd-b91f-837da07556b6_en?filename=Clean%20Hydrogen%20JU%20AWP%202025_FINAL_ADOPTED.pdf
- https://www.gaz-system.pl/en/hydrogen-market/news/19-12-2024-gaz-system-published-survey-results-on-the-hydrogen-map-of-poland.html; https://renewablesnow.com/news/polands-orlen-awarded-eur-397m-in-grants-for-hydrogen-projects-1277116/; https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/production/orlen-wins-approval-for-459m-in-state-aid-towards-two-large-green-hydrogen-projects/2-1-1833975
- https://energynews.pro/en/croatia-ohmium-and-ivicom-join-forces-for-first-green-hydrogen-project
- https://balkangreenenergynews.com/green-ammonia-hub-set-to-start-operations-in-croatia-in-2027/
- Strategic Energy Europe, https://strategicenergy.eu/la-apuesta-de-rumania-por-el-desarrollo-del-hidrogeno-verde/#
- European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, “Learnbook: Implementation of Supply Corridors”, November 2024, https://www.entsog.eu/sites/default/files/2024-11/ECH2A_Transmission%20Distribution%20Roundtable_Learnbook%20on%20Implementation%20of%20Hydrogen%20Supply%20Corridors.pdf
- EMIS Insights, CEE Natural Gas Sector Report 2025-2026
- Carnegie Endowment, https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/04/how-eastern-europe-overhauled-its-natural-gas-market?lang=en
- Enerace, https://enerace.eu/blog/gas-storage-filling#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20the%20obligation,instability%20and%20changing%20market%20conditions.
- https://energy.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-prepared-winter-and-beyond-confirms-latest-report-european-transmission-system-operators-gas-2025-10-09_en
- The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, “Transit of Russian Gas Across Ukraine, December 2024, Conditions for Post 2024 Continuation”; https://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/NG196-Transit-of-Russian-gas-across-Ukraine.pdf
- Energy Economics, Volume 131, March 2024, “The EU’s vulnerability to gas price and supply shocks: The role of mismatches between policy beliefs and changing international gas markets”, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988324000914#:~:text=Following%20the%20first%20European%20directive,the%20EU’s%20largest%20gas%20markets.&text=Fig.,Source:%20Eurostat%20(2023).
- Kpler, Russian gas flows via Ukraine in 2025 and beyond: What CEE countries can expect; https://www.kpler.com/blog/no-russian-gas-flows-via-ukraine-in-2025-what-are-the-options-on-the-table-for-cee-countries
- https://projects.3seas.eu/projects/expansion-of-the-capacity-of-the-lng-terminal-on-the-island-of-krk
- https://ceenergynews.com/lng/croatias-lng-pipelines-set-to-transform-energy-landscape/
- Kpler, Russian gas flows via Ukraine in 2025 and beyond: What CEE countries can expect; https://www.kpler.com/blog/no-russian-gas-flows-via-ukraine-in-2025-what-are-the-options-on-the-table-for-cee-countries
Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/special-reports/01112025/emis--an-energy-balancing-act/
You might also like
The World Pipelines Podcast - "Fight while wounded": how pipelines can stay resilient amid cyber threats
A conversation about how the energy and pipeline sectors can build cyber resilience in an era of growing complexity and connection. Featuring Ross Brewer, Vice President and Managing Director of EMEA at Graylog.
Tune in to the World Pipelines Podcast on your favourite podcast app today.
