France’s 2027 Budget Tables Three Instruments to Stoke Hydrogen Demand

France’s draft 2027 national budget puts three new policy instruments on the table for the country’s hydrogen sector, a package that industry group France Hydrogene has welcomed as a meaningful step toward building demand for renewable and low-carbon hydrogen.

The most significant measure is IRICC, a carbon-intensity reduction mechanism for transport fuels that replaces the existing TIRUERT system. Under IRICC, France would for the first time establish national targets for clean hydrogen in transport fuel. The mechanism also brings French energy policy into alignment with the requirements of the European Union’s RED III renewable energy directive.

France Hydrogene expects IRICC to directly increase hydrogen uptake across the refining industry and in the fuels used by road and maritime transport. The group estimates that deploying the mechanism could attract roughly €2 billion in private investment toward new hydrogen projects in those sectors.

The budget also proposes two-sided auctions for producers of e-SAF, the synthetic aviation fuel that can draw on renewable hydrogen as a feedstock. France Hydrogene supported that measure as well, arguing that combining it with IRICC would help guarantee reliable demand for both hydrogen and synthetic aviation fuel — giving private companies stronger grounds to commit capital to new production capacity.

Source: Hydrogen Europe