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26.06.2025

Webinar on "Bridging India’s Certification Framework to EU RFNBO Standards"

The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) in collaboration with the Indo-German Energy Forum Support Office (IGEF-SO), the International Hydrogen Ramp-up Program (H2Uppp) and Green Hydrogen India (GH2 India) organised a webinar on “Bridging India’s Certification Framework to EU RFNBO Standards” on 26th June 2025. It was supported by Women in Green Hydrogen (WiGH) South Asia and was attended by more than 170 participants.

The launch of India’s Green Hydrogen Certification Scheme (GHCI) is an important step towards establishing a credible domestic green hydrogen ecosystem. However, if India is to participate in the global hydrogen trade, particularly with major offtake markets such as the EU, it is crucial that it aligns with international standards, such as the EU’s RFNBO scheme. This includes harmonising Measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems, emissions thresholds, and guarantees of origin. 

The webinar provided an in-depth exploration of the topic. It helped participants understand the synergies and differences between the Indian GHCI and the EU's Delegated Acts on RFNBO. Participants were given the opportunity to ask questions about building dual-compliant projects and learn how to establish a streamlined digital infrastructure that enables developers to operationalise, document and demonstrate compliance efficiently. An interactive poll conducted during the webinar revealed a high demand for clarification on the alignment of GHCI and RFNBO requirements, with many developers anticipating potential compliance challenges. Most participants indicated plans to adopt both schemes for their projects.

The webinar also marked the launch of a whitepaper on "Bridging India’s Green Hydrogen Certification to EU RFNBO: GHCI & RFNBO – Synergies & Differences and Why they matter?", offering practical guidance for developers on achieving dual compliance under GHCI and RFNBO – unlocking both Indian subsidies and EU export opportunities.

In her welcome remarks, Ms. Shivani Chaturvedi, Regional Director, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC), emphasised the vast potential for collaboration between India and Germany in the green hydrogen space, highlighting how initiatives like this webinar help deepen mutual understanding and accelerate joint action.

Speakers at the webinar on Bridging India's Certification Framework to EU RFNBO Standards

Mr. Rolf Behrndt, Senior Advisor at GH2 India, underscored the critical role of green hydrogen certification for Indian developers targeting exports to Europe. 

Mr. Simon Byrtus, Senior Partner, Green Investors AG presented the findings of the whitepaper, offering practical guidance to overcome compatibility gaps and giving recommendations for action to policy makers and project developers alike.

Dr. Prasad Chaphekar, Deputy Secretary, Green Hydrogen, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) pointed out the importance of certification frameworks also for exports. He mentioned that, as different countries have varying certification schemes, webinars like this help in understanding the commonalities and differences. This, in turn, enables better guidance to developers on compliance, while also helping reduce overall compliance and transaction costs in general.

Mr. Matthieu Boisson, Managing Director, CertifHy, elaborated on CertifHy’s approach in bridging GHCI and EU RFNBO certification and how stakeholders can get involved in actively shaping interoperability of the two standards. He emphasised the need to reduce technical and administrative burdens, avoid compliance gaps, and facilitate business transactions. He also highlighted the whitepaper as a key milestone in identifying and comparing discrepancies between different certification systems.

Keynote address by Dr. Chaphekar, Deputy Secretary, Green Hydrogen (NGHM), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy during the webinar

Furthermore, Ms. Flore de Durfort, CEO & Co-Founder, Atmen – recognised as the first Compliance Technology Provider (CTP) for CertifHy’s RFNBO scheme – provided insights into using digital infrastructure to prove the origin of renewable electricity, track carbon inputs and emissions, manage PPAs eligibility, and keep up to date with new rules. She emphasised that the ability to robustly and accurately track the attributes of what is produced, traced, and shipped will be crucial to gaining a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving landscape. 

Ms. Flore de Durfort from Atmen presented on "Green Molecules Certification: How to make it work at scale, across border and standards?"

The webinar offered valuable insights into aligning India’s green hydrogen certification with EU standards and highlighted the importance of collaboration to support future-ready, export-oriented projects.

More webinars on topics such as Electrolyser Technologies, Decentralised Green Hydrogen Production and Agrivoltaics will be organised in the upcoming months. 

Please find the presentations and recording below: