Argentina’s Pathway to Exporting RFNBO to Europe

This study explains how Argentina can export certified PtX and green hydrogen products to the European Union. When assessing the expected evolution of the international market for hydrogen and its derivatives, the European Union emerges as the region with the greatest potential demand. This is explained by a combination of ambitious decarbonisation policies, projected consumption of low-emission hydrogen, and constraints on producing locally at competitive cost and at the required scale. 

In this context, for countries that currently view renewable hydrogen as primarily an export vector in the short and medium term, such as Argentina, it is essential to understand in detail the European criteria for certifying these products as Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO). This understanding enables an assessment of the viability of projects targeting the EU as a destination market and also helps anticipate how these requirements could apply in Argentina and interact with the regulatory and operational framework of the national power system. 

The objective of this report is to provide technical support to developers of renewable hydrogen and Power-to-X projects, as well as other relevant actors in Argentina’s energy sector, so they can understand the rules and criteria that must be met in order to certify products as RFNBO under European Union law and thereby gain access to that market. 

The study is organised in two parts. First, it describes the main provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) and its delegated acts related to the certification of renewable hydrogen and derivatives. Second, it analyses implementation strategies for projects located in Argentina that aim to supply the EU and identifies challenges and points that remain subject to interpretation or future official guidance. 

The work includes, among other elements: 

• Analysis of the criteria for considering electricity as fully renewable 

• Details of the methodology for quantifying the greenhouse-gas intensity of fuels 

• A description of the applicable European regulation 

• A specific analysis of the Argentine case, comparing the certification criteria with the design and characteristics of the electricity market, the availability of carbon sources, and the emissions associated with maritime transport.