The Blue Move for a Green Economy

The Blue Move is a trans-boundary effort in Еresund – Kattegatt – Skagerrak with public and private actors to support an increased use of renewable energy through use of hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels. The project will contribute to development of business models for hydrogen infrastructure as well as for production and distribution, which is essential to enable a broad introduction of hydrogen vehicles.

The Blue Move will increase knowledge among several target audiences, which is a must for regulation, control measures and vehicle demand to develop in a manner that enables hydrogen to effectively contribute to a fossil free vehicle fleet and improved air quality.

The dependence of fossil fuels in the transport sector is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Scandinavia. To be able to lower carbon dioxide emission, the overall energy consumption needs to decrease and the use of renewable energy increase.

Prompt measures are necessary, but there are no quick fixes. The goals that are set on a EU-level with the 2020-strategy and the flagship initiative јResourceefficient Europeј, as well as on a national level are very clear. The EU-parliament passed the directive Clean Power for Transport in September 2014, which will secure the roll out of alternative fuels such as methane, hydrogen and electric charging infrastructure with common standards throughout the EU.

Plans on a national level for fossil free energy systems are in place both in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Moreover there are ambitious climate goals in Copenhagen and the SkМne Region as well as in Oslo and Akershus, which have led to implementation of hydrogen vehicles locally and regionally.

Blue Move will display the initiatives that have the largest impact on hydrogen vehicle introduction through a structured analysis; discussions and increased information transfer between these cities as well as others in the ЕKS region. The project will focus on matters common between the cities that decide to build hydrogen refuelling stations and purchase hydrogen vehicles in an early stage of rollout. Experience from Next Move, an earlier Interreg ЕKS project, is that cross boarder information exchange is crucial for the partners to strengthen each otherјs efforts in tackling the challenges early adopters face.

The aim of The Blue Move is primarily to strengthen the Scandinavian collaboration within the hydrogen and transport sector and in a structured manner increase the information exchange between municipalities regions, companies and organisations with a focus on these matters.

The Blue Move will strive to build up knowledge of strategies for business models for development and operation of hydrogen infrastructure for vehicles, as well as for establishing production and distribution of hydrogen. The project will describe possibilities and potential as well as propose groundwork for regional and local strategies for production and use of hydrogen in the ЕKS region. Blue Move will also demonstrate and evaluate the use of  hydrogen vehicles for city distribution and other local vehicle fleets, and shows the potential of further use of other types of vehicles. Emphasis will be placed on communication of activities and results, as well as competence increasing activities.

The parties of The Blue Move have a long experience from regional, interregional and international cooperation, as well as a wide network of public and private organisations, research and development. The project is well rooted in the regions and municipalities that are vital actors in contributing to development of fossil independent infrastructure and reforming the transport sector. It follows that this project could have a major impact on increasing the use of renewable energy in the transport sector.

Blue Move Partners