Nobian’s chlor-alkali plant in Rotterdam is now the largest RFNBO-certified green hydrogen facility in Europe. With ISCC EU certification covering 14,000 tonnes of annual production — equivalent to a 140 MW electrolyser — the milestone gives industrial customers verified access to renewable hydrogen for meeting EU 2030 targets in mobility and industry.

A first at industrial scale

In April 2025, Dutch chemicals producer Nobian became the first European green hydrogen producer at the 100 MW-plus scale to receive ISCC EU certification for Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO). The certification — issued after an audit by Normec QS — applies to the green hydrogen output of Nobian’s chlor-alkali electrolysis plant in Rotterdam.

The numbers matter. Earlier RFNBO certifications in Europe, such as Lhyfe’s Bouin facility in France in May 2025, covered smaller-scale dedicated electrolyser projects. Nobian’s certified output of 14,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year — produced as a co-product of chlorine and caustic soda manufacturing using local renewable electricity — moves RFNBO from pilot territory into industrial reality.

Why RFNBO certification is the key that unlocks markets

Under the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive, RFNBO is the legal category that defines renewable hydrogen and its derivatives. By 2030, 1% of all transport fuels and 42% of all industrial hydrogen consumed in the EU must qualify as RFNBO. Without certification, even renewable-powered hydrogen cannot count toward those targets — and cannot be sold into the regulated markets that are now emerging.

The ISCC EU scheme is one of three certification systems approved by the European Commission in January 2025, alongside CertifHy and REDcert. It verifies that the hydrogen meets strict carbon-footprint requirements and was produced with renewable electricity under the rules set by the EU’s delegated acts.

For refineries, fuel suppliers and industrial users facing the 2030 deadlines, certified supply is no longer optional. Nobian’s certification effectively opens the largest single source of certified green hydrogen in Europe to off-takers who need it.

Chlor-alkali: an underrated bridge to the hydrogen economy

Chlor-alkali electrolysis is one of the oldest industrial electrochemical processes — it converts salt and water into chlorine, caustic soda and hydrogen. The hydrogen has historically been a by-product, often burned for process heat or sold as a low-value gas. When the electricity input is renewable, that same hydrogen becomes one of the cheapest sources of certified green hydrogen available today, because the capital cost of the electrolyser is already amortised against the chlorine business.

According to Nobian, the production process emits approximately ten times less CO₂ than grey hydrogen produced from natural gas. Markus Mingenbach, Senior Vice President Chlor-Alkali at Nobian, framed the certification as “another milestone” in the company’s “Grow Greener Together” strategy. Julien Courtois, Manager Product Development Hydrogen, indicated that Nobian plans to extend RFNBO certification to its other chlor-alkali sites in the Netherlands and Germany.

What this signals for the Swiss Power-to-X community

Three observations matter for SPIN members:

  • Certified supply is becoming real. The pipeline of RFNBO-certified hydrogen in Europe is expanding from individual demonstrators to large industrial sites. Swiss off-takers planning Power-to-Liquid, eSAF or chemicals projects can increasingly source certified hydrogen rather than build everything themselves.
  • Existing industrial assets are part of the answer. Repurposing or recertifying hydrogen flows from chlor-alkali and other electrochemical industries is a faster, cheaper route to RFNBO volume than greenfield electrolyser projects — provided the electricity supply qualifies.
  • Switzerland is outside the EU’s regulatory perimeter — but not its market reality. Swiss producers and importers will increasingly need to demonstrate equivalent certification to access European value chains. Aligning Swiss standards with ISCC EU and the other approved schemes is a question that deserves attention in the Federal Office of Energy’s ongoing work on Power-to-X.

The RFNBO framework itself remains contested — earlier this year the European Parliament and industry voices called for a review of its strictest provisions to avoid stalling investment. But Nobian’s certification shows that compliance, at scale, is achievable under the current rules.

Source: Nobian press release, 16 April 2025. Further information on the ISCC RFNBO certification database is available at iscc-system.org.