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  4. EMIS - An energy balancing act

EMIS - An energy balancing act

 

Published by
 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

  1. EMIS Insights CEE Natural Gas Sector Report 2025 - 2026.
  2. 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/
  3. 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
  4. IEA, Northwest European Hydrogen Monitor 2025, https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/e77d3543-065d-49d8-b74c-e6a0283281ee/NorthwestEuropeanHydrogenMonitor2025.pdf
  5. Strategic Energy Europe, https://strategicenergy.eu/european-comission-launches-third-hydrogen-auction-with-e1-1-billion-budget
  6. IEA, https://www.iea.org/policies/13642-cross-border-energy-infrastructure-new-rules-for-ten-e
  7. The European Hydrogen Backbone, https://ehb.eu/files/downloads/EHB-Supply-corridors-presentation-ExecSum.pdf
  8. EP Infrastructure, https://www.epinfrastructure.cz/en/news/eustream-technologically-ready-to-transport-hydrogen-from-2023/
  9. DNV, https://www.dnv.com/news/2022/dnv-assesses-hydrogen-readiness-of-hungarian-gas-pipeline-216291/
  10. 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/
  11. 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
  12. https://businessinsider.com.pl/gospodarka/ta-rura-poplynie-wodor-pierwszy-taki-gazociag-w-polsce/sxqny1v
  13. 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
  14. https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/get-involved/hydrogen-valleys_en#:~:text=Acknowledging%20the%20role%20of%20the,date%20can%20be%20found%20below.
  15. Hydrogen Europe, https://hydrogeneurope.eu/the-first-hydrogen-valley-to-be-built-in-kosice-region/
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. 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.
  19. https://hydrogeneurope.eu/hydrogen-is-key-building-block-2040-targets/
  20. 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/
  21. Ibid.
  22. https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/policy/german-chancellor-calls-on-eu-to-shelve-excessively-strict-green-hydrogen-definition/2-1-1759905
  23. https://cleantechnica.com/2025/02/21/hydrogen-hype-meets-hard-costs-europes-pipeline-plan-in-trouble/
  24. 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
  25. European Parliament, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2025/767227/EPRS_BRI(2025)767227_EN.pdf
  26. 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
  27. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 182, August 2023, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123002289
  28. Hungary’s National Hydrogen Strategy, https://cdn.kormany.hu/uploads/document/a/a2/a2b/a2b2b7ed5179b17694659b8f050ba9648e75a0bf.pdf
  29. 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
  30. Ibid.
  31. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/sl/inf_24_4661
  32. 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
  33. 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
  34. 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/
  35. 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.
  36. CEE Energy News, https://ceenergynews.com/hydrogen/poland-announces-major-changes-in-hydrogen-regulation-and-first-large-scale-hydrogen-storage-facility
  37. 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.
  38. 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
  39. 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
  40. https://energynews.pro/en/croatia-ohmium-and-ivicom-join-forces-for-first-green-hydrogen-project
  41. https://balkangreenenergynews.com/green-ammonia-hub-set-to-start-operations-in-croatia-in-2027/
  42. Strategic Energy Europe, https://strategicenergy.eu/la-apuesta-de-rumania-por-el-desarrollo-del-hidrogeno-verde/#
  43. 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
  44. EMIS Insights, CEE Natural Gas Sector Report 2025-2026
  45. Carnegie Endowment, https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/04/how-eastern-europe-overhauled-its-natural-gas-market?lang=en
  46. Enerace, https://enerace.eu/blog/gas-storage-filling#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20the%20obligation,instability%20and%20changing%20market%20conditions.
  47. https://energy.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-prepared-winter-and-beyond-confirms-latest-report-european-transmission-system-operators-gas-2025-10-09_en
  48. 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
  49. 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).
  50. 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
  51. https://projects.3seas.eu/projects/expansion-of-the-capacity-of-the-lng-terminal-on-the-island-of-krk
  52. https://ceenergynews.com/lng/croatias-lng-pipelines-set-to-transform-energy-landscape/
  53. 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