France

Country: France

Document type: National Strategy

Title:
National Strategy for the Development of Decarbonised and Renewable Hydrogen in France (Press kit – provisional draft English language version). Released: September 2020

National Hydrogen Strategy 2025 (SNH II, French language). Media release (English translation). Released: April 2025

Summary Points:

The original Strategy (announced on 8 September 2020) was complementary to the €100 billion special economic stimulus recovery package (including €30 billion for the ecological transition) presented on 3 September 2020 by the French Government.

The original Strategy commits €7 billion of public investment (later increased to €9 billion in 2021) to develop decarbonised hydrogen between 2020-2030.

The revised Strategy (released on 16 April 2025) lowered the 2030 target for installed electrolyser capacity for the production of low-carbon hydrogen to 4.5 GW (from 6.5 GW) and downgraded the target for 2035 from over 10 GW to 8 GW.

The revised Strategy reaffirmed support through the €9 billion funding package to be committed by the end of the decade (€4 billion would be available over the next 15 years as incentives for producing low-carbon hydrogen – renewable and nuclear power sourced). Calls for projects would also be held for the deployment of hydrogen utility vehicles and critical elements of hydrogen technologies.

Supporting Programmes and Initiatives (non- exhaustive)

In February 2021, the legislative framework to support industry development was progressed with release (and passing into law) of the draft hydrogen ordonnance (enacted under the 2019 Energy and Climate Law; the ordonnance would supplement the French Energy Code by the addition (it is reported) of a new title VIII ‘Provisions relating to hydrogen’). The ordonnance reportedly covers four key deployment aspects:

• The taxonomy (classification/definitional basis) of hydrogen.
• The proposed government support mechanisms to support development of renewable-based/low-carbon hydrogen.
• Guarantee of origin/certification regime for renewable or low-carbon hydrogen.
• Licensing requirements for transportation of hydrogen in the natural gas grid.

In October 2021, the French President unveiled the €30 billion ‘France 2030’ Investment Plan, aimed at fostering industrial champions and innovation. The president flagged a major role for nuclear-powered, hydrogen production in France’s future energy mix.

In November 2021, the French President was reported that France would provide an additional €1.9 billion in funds to support the development of zero carbon and green hydrogen production, bringing the total national support to around €9 billion when combined with funds announced in the National Strategy (with reporting suggesting the additional €1.9 billion in funds would come from the ‘France 2030 Investment Plan’).

In February 2022, it was reported that, as part of the ‘France 2030 Investment Plan’, €5 billion in “direct aid” would be offered for the deployment of decarbonisation solutions for heavy industry, of which €4 billion would be allocated to “innovative technologies” such as hydrogen and carbon, capture, utilisation and storage.

In July 2023, the EC approved, under State Aid rules, a €850 million French measure to support ArcelorMittal in partially decarbonising its steel production processes at its Dunkirk facility.

In December 2023, media reports indicated that in an address the French President announced funding to explore the potential of natural hydrogen; it noted that potentially exploitable deposits were identified in the north-eastern region of Lorraine and the south-western region of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, with the French President reported as indicating that authorities had issued a natural hydrogen exploration licence for these deposits in December.

In March 2024, the the EC approved, under the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, a €900 million French scheme to support production of (i) heat and fuels from biomass, such as synthetic gas and biochar, for use in industrial processes, and (ii) liquid fuels from biomass and renewable hydrogen, for use in industrial processes and transport.

In May 2025, media reporting indicated that the French Government had launched a consultation (open until 10 June 2025) on a proposal to increase the share of renewable hydrogen and its derivatives in transport fuels from 0.1% in 2026 to 2% by 2035 (1.5% in 2030).

Contracts for Difference Scheme

In December 2024, the French Government released a document on the ‘Competitive tendering procedure with competitive dialogue on support for the production of renewable or low-carbon hydrogen within the meaning of Article L. 811-1 of the Energy Code by water electrolysis’. Details of the procedure can be seen in media summary reporting and, according to reports, provides for the granting of aid over 15 years, with a ceiling price of €4/kgH₂.

Media reporting indicates the published consultation specifies that the power allocated to the first phase of competitive bidding is 200 MW of electrolysis capacity for the period 2024-2025, with a planned ramp-up to 1000 MW spread over several periods (250 MW in 2026 and 550 MW in 2027). A three-stage award process is to be followed – selection of candidates, competitive dialogue phase, designation of winners. Applications for the selection of candidates phase closed in March 2025.

In July 2025, media reports indicated that the Ministry of Industry and Energy announced the launch of the competitive dialogue phase for the first phase of the support mechanism for the production of decarbonised hydrogen, with the participation of 10 candidates for a total electrolysis capacity of 388 MW.

H2Med Pipeline – CelZa and BarMar Projects

In June 2024, agreements were signed or formalised to progress the European H2Med corridor – consisting of a connection between Celorico da Beira in Portugal and Zamora in Spain (CelZa – a 248-kilometre interconnection, 0.75 mtpa of hydrogen maximum capacity) and a maritime connection between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar – a 455-kilometre sub-sea pipeline, 2 mtpa of hydrogen maximum capacity). Expectations were that the corridor would be completed by 2030.

In January 2025, Spanish Utility Enagas noted that €35.56 million in grants had been awarded for H2Med project studies submitted through the 2024 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) energy call, with €28.34 million supporting the BarMar project and €7.22 million the Celza project.

In July 2025, Enagas noted that the Transmission System Operators had signed a Shareholders’ Agreement which establishes the creation of a joint venture dedicated to the development of the BarMar project.

 

Updated: July 2025