Public datasets of technologies along the hydrogen value chain for life cycle (sustainability) assessment
Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
The Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking or Clean Hydrogen Partnership is a unique public-private partnership supporting research and innovation (R&I) activities in hydrogen technologies in Europe. It builds upon the success of its predecessor, the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
Given the importance of further enabling a robust and transparent assessment of FCH products to support the penetration of those in compliance with sustainability standards, this topic promotes the timely development of high-quality datasets for key FCH-relevant products and technologies across the hydrogen value chain. As regards scope, the project is expected to focus on the development of at least 20 high-quality, open-access and freely accessible datasets (LCIs) for several key FCH-relevant products and technologies. Besides, projects should also illustrate LCIs usefulness through their application in life cycle (sustainability) assessment studies.
Detailed Call Description
The addressed materials, components, equipment, and technologies should be relevant to the hydrogen value chain, involve different technology readiness levels (thus including emerging technologies), and enable the assessment of a complete FCH system. In this regard, at least one entire FCH product system should be fully covered and assessed using both existing LCIs and the new ones to be built. When relevant, the developed inventories should address current data gaps regarding aspects such as critical raw materials, hydrogen losses, recycling, and end-of-life processes. According to current maturity in life cycle databases, inventory building should be relevant to at least the environmental dimension, while exploring opportunities for economic and social dimensions (which are subject to deeper geographical concerns).
The funded project should involve:
- Review of individual foreground datasets developed in previous FCH-relevant projects, particularly those funded by the JU, and scientific literature.
- Building of open-access, high-quality inventories respecting FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles and assessing data quality considering technology (including technology readiness level), time, and region. The involvement of industry actors for the generation of new datasets is expected. Documentation on standardised data structures and modelling principles for the resultant database (i.e. collection of structured datasets), as well as on specific details for each dataset, should be prepared.
- Application of the developed datasets in life cycle (sustainability) assessment studies for testing purposes.
The expected consortium should involve experts in the field of LCA/LCSA of FCH product systems and FCH companies relevant to data acquisition. Letters of support from OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) should be made available at the proposal stage.
The datasets developed by the project for environmental LCA should be ready for their publication in the hydrogen node of the Life Cycle Data Network (LCDN)[6], which is managed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Cooperation with the JRC and the European Hydrogen Sustainability and Circularity Panel (EHS&CP) should be foreseen. Moreover, synergy with other initiatives such as the IEA Hydrogen TCP Task 50 on Cost and Carbon Intensity Analysis and Model Comparison of Hydrogen Supply Chains[7] could be considered.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Expected EU contribution per project: €2.50 million.
Thematic Categories
- Economy-Finances
- Energy
- Environment and Climate Change
- Industry
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Businesses
- Large Enterprises
- Legal Entities
- Other Beneficiaries
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Eligibility For Participation Notes
Additional eligibility condition: Maximum contribution per topic
For some topics, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, an additional eligibility criterion has been introduced to limit the Clean Hydrogen JU requested contribution mostly for actions performed at high TRL level, including demonstration in real operational environment and with important involvement from industrial stakeholders and/or end users such as public authorities. Such actions are expected to leverage co-funding as commitment from stakeholders. It is of added value that such leverage is shown through the private investment in these specific topics. Therefore, proposals requesting contributions above the amounts specified per each topic below will not be evaluated
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-03-03: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-04-02: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 8.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-01: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 17.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-02: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 8.00 million
Additional eligibility condition: Membership to Hydrogen Europe / Hydrogen Europe Research
For the topics listed below, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, an additional an additional eligibility criterion has been introduced to ensure that one partner in the consortium is a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research. This concerns topics targeting actions for large-scale demonstrations, flagship projects and strategic research actions, where the industrial and research partners of the Clean Hydrogen JU are considered to play a key role in accelerating the commercialisation of hydrogen technologies by being closely linked to the Clean Hydrogen JU constituency, which could further ensure full alignment with the SRIA of the JU. This approach shall also ensure the continuity of the work performed within projects funded through the H2020 and FP7, by building up on their experience and consolidating the EU value-chain. In the Call 2026 this applies to: development and demonstration of flexible and standardised hydrogen storage systems and demonstration and operation of reversible solid oxide cell systems operation for local grid-connected hydrogen production and utilisation. This will also apply to the Hydrogen Valleys (flagship) topics as they are considered of strategic importance for the European Union ambitions to double the number of Hydrogen Valleys by 2025 as well as to the more recent European Commission’s inspirational target to have at least 50 Hydrogen Valleys under construction or operational by 2030 across the entire EU. For the Hydrogen Valleys topics a large amount of co-investment/co-funding of project participants/beneficiaries including national and regional programmes is expected.
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-03-03
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-04-02
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-01
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-02
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.