Open Hydrogen Initiative Advancing transparency and credibility to hydrogen markets

Hydrogen is a potential energy game changer, but high variability in its carbon intensity makes it difficult for governments, industry, and investors to discover and accurately compare low-carbon hydrogen solutions.

That’s where the Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI) comes in. We are building an open-sourced and standardized accounting methodology for hydrogen emissions at the facility level to harmonize the market when it comes to climate solutions and support global trade in low-carbon hydrogen as a valuable commodity in the energy transition.

Advance transparency

Contextualize climate investments

Help harmonize markets

Support the development of a globally traded hydrogen market

A WORLD-CLASS HYDROGEN MEASUREMENT TOOLKIT

A suite of analytical methodologies and protocols spanning major hydrogen production routes including all commercial solid, gas, and power conversation technologies and all the associated energy feedstocks.

An open-source modeling toolkit based on the suite of methodologies and protocols, allowing users to assess the carbon intensity of their operations in a precise and practical format. The modeling platform will employ Data Quality Management (DQM) methodology to assess confidence and quality of final model results as a function of the quality of inputs.

A launch of demonstration projects from stakeholders on the characterization of hydrogen production processes will provide a better understanding of energy and material flows and major emissions hotspots. Identifying real-world applicability and credible carbon intensity values for a range of production methods ensure a sustainable growth trajectory of hydrogen in the marketplace.

OHI Stakeholder Commentary

“The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC) is pleased that the Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI) is rolling out its toolkit that will more accurately measure greenhouse gas emissions associated with individual clean hydrogen production facilities. One of the CHFC’s founding principles is that clean hydrogen should be evaluated on a technology neutral, carbon dioxide (CO₂) intensity approach. OHI’s standardized accounting methodology will enable stakeholders to find and accurately compare among different clean hydrogen options. More accurate CO₂ intensity evaluations are necessary to build support for clean hydrogen solutions that are a critical pathway to achieve global decarbonization objectives.”

Shannon Angielski

President, Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition

“Hydrogen holds immense promise as a low-carbon solution, and standardization of methods to account for its environmental benefits is a key to unlocking its full potential. Through our participation in the Open Hydrogen Initiative, we’re partnering on efforts to establish open-sourced accounting methodologies that will streamline and support the development of a hydrogen market. We welcome the harmonization this tool can bring to the market and are optimistic about its potential to expand the use of clean hydrogen.”

Bradley Beckman

Director of System Integrity, Southern Company Gas

"Building a thriving hydrogen economy requires a truly inclusive, diverse effort. We are proud to be part of the initiative driving this potential forward. OHI’s harmonized methodology and toolkit for measuring the carbon intensity of hydrogen production enables global trade of low-carbon hydrogen, guides climate solutions, and builds trust via quantifiable and traceable data.”

Naomi L. Boness

Co-Managing Director, Stanford Hydrogen Initiative

“LanzaTech joined the Open Hydrogen Initiative recognizing the necessity of robust carbon accounting for real-world carbon abatement projects using hydrogen. We appreciate the professionalism of OHI and look forward to using the OHI lifecycle model to advance projects in the US and around the world.”

Tom Dower

VP Public Policy, LanzaTech

“The OHI toolkit offers open and auditable emissions accounting to help companies and governments understand the tradeoffs between the cost and environmental impacts of hydrogen. We are proud of this collaboration which brings together technical expertise, real-world insights, and decades of experience to help the market connect demand for low-carbon energy with suppliers and investments that will spur the hydrogen economy.”

Paula Gant, Ph.D.

President and CEO of GTI Energy

“At Aurora Hydrogen, we are excited about OHI’s work to develop a standardized approach for measuring the carbon intensity of hydrogen production. OHI’s methodology, which encompasses various production technologies like methane pyrolysis, is a critical step towards a more transparent hydrogen market. Accurate carbon accounting is essential for building trust and attracting investment in clean hydrogen production methods.”

Andrew Gillis

CEO, Aurora Hydrogen

“The Open Hydrogen Initiative provides a collaborative space for energy industry leaders to develop a data-driven solution to hydrogen emissions measurement and reduction. As a company committed to empowering industrial organizations to accelerate sustainability outcomes, Seeq is proud to be a technical sponsor of OHI and the first platform to operationalize the OHI toolkit. We see tremendous opportunities to enable hydrogen producers to view carbon intensity in real-time and further facilitate low carbon hydrogen trade."

Dr. Lisa Graham

CEO, Seeq

“Regulators, international agencies and market participants all recognize that tools that drive deep and detailed understanding of carbon intensity are a vital part of the development of carbon differentiated commodity markets. Understanding a commodities decarbonization potential via its carbon intensity and having the tools and data to assign a dollar value will play a central role in helping markets deliver a low carbon economy.”

Alan Hayes

Head of Energy Transition Pricing and Market Data at S&P Global Commodity Insights

“The launch of the OHI open-sourced tool is a welcome development at this stage of the hydrogen industry’s journey to scale. Standardizing hydrogen carbon intensity measurements is critical to building trust across stakeholder groups, and the OHI tool will help ensure accurate and transparent data is available within the market. We applaud OHI’s leadership in convening an inclusive and collaborative environment throughout this process.”

Hydrogen Forward

“As hydrogen emerges as a critical solution for decarbonization, accurate and consistent tools for measuring its carbon footprint and environmental impact are crucial. By harnessing industry-wide collaboration and scientific expertise throughout the development process, OHI’s open-sourced toolkit provides this solution, accelerating progress towards a cleaner future.”

Alissa Kendall

Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chair, Energy Graduate Group, University of California Davis

“The OHI toolkit is a first step to measurement that helps implement the Inflation Reduction Act 45V Hydrogen Production Tax Credit. When used in conjunction with other life cycle data across supply chains, it can ultimately help illuminate the costs of different pathways. Taken together, it is vital for the complete view of sustainability – environmental, social, and financial/commercial.”

Rachel A. Meidl

Fellow in Energy and Sustainability, Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies, Rice University

“Market liquidity and product fungibility are key ingredients for growing energy and community markets. OHI’s tools are focused on confirming the carbon intensity of individual hydrogen production sites and shipments, with a methodology agnostic on technology or product color. This will greatly enhance market liquidity and product fungibility, bolstering financing to grow clean hydrogen use, which, in turn, will reduce carbon emissions.”

Brett Perlman

CEO, Center for Houston’s Future

“OHI’s toolkit fosters global harmonization in the hydrogen market, driving transparency for all stakeholders. Investors gain a powerful tool for carbon footprint assessment, producers can differentiate their offerings, and consumers can make informed choices based on cost and sustainability. OHI will facilitate the transition to a clean energy economy by providing reliable data to decision-makers for a lower-carbon future.”

RMI

“As British Columbia shifts away from higher carbon-emitting energy sources, innovation becomes critical in reducing costs and decreasing the carbon intensity of hydrogen production methods. The Open Hydrogen Initiative is contributing to the development of our growing clean hydrogen sector by creating a tool that objectively quantifies the life cycle greenhouse gas impact. This effort is in alignment with the CICE intelligence work on hydrogen carbon intensity thresholds, and could help guide early-stage innovation investment towards low carbon hydrogen production pathways with the highest potential for application in B.C.”

Todd Sayers

Chief Operating Officer, CICE

“It has been a delight to see OHI bring together a number of different stakeholder perspectives, united to address the challenge of getting the life cycle assessment of hydrogen “right.” Our work in OHI will enable the industry to make better real-time production decisions, aid in addressing the economics of carbon reduction, and enable global trade in independently-certified clean hydrogen.”

Mark Viehman

Principal, Hydrogen and Clean Fuels, Capgemini

Have questions about joining the Open Hydrogen Initiative?

About OHI

The hydrogen rainbow is a useless metric. Here’s why:

Hydrogen’s carbon intensity is often associated with a color representing the method by which hydrogen is produced. However, hydrogen molecules of the same color category can still have highly variable carbon footprints, as the “color wheel” does not consider all the factors that can affect the emissions profile from one hydrogen production facility to another. With hydrogen applications becoming a part of many government and organization decarbonization strategies, precise and consistent tools to measure hydrogen’s carbon intensity at the facility level are a foundational requirement for credibility.

GTI Energy and S&P Global Commodity Insights, with technical contribution from the National Energy Technology Laboratory, developed the Open Hydrogen Initiative to answer this market need. Through the initiative, a broad range of stakeholders are collaborating to develop open-source protocols that will unlock hydrogen’s potential to decarbonize energy-intensive sectors.

To learn more about opportunities to participate, please contact us today.

While the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) provided technical guidance on OHI, the lab’s technical input is by no means an endorsement by the U.S. Federal Government in OHI’s methodology.

OHI News

Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role in decarbonizing energy-intensive sectors, but credible and open-source protocols are needed to vet the environmental credibility of a specific production pathway, given the variability even among the same technologies. Learn how OHI is working to redefine how the world measures and benchmarks the carbon intensity of hydrogen production at the asset level.

News Releases

Webinars

In the News

Stakeholder Commentary

Why OHI?

Global
in scope

OHI operates with global member participation, and its carbon accounting framework will be applicable to facilities in all regions of the world. OHI looks beyond national needs and aims to harmonize the global clean hydrogen marketplace.

Inclusive of industry participation

OHI welcomes the substantive and collaborative contribution of the energy community. At each stage of development, the OHI team works in unison with key stakeholders including academia, eNGOs, and governments to vet, refine, and improve its work.

Facility-specific carbon accounting

OHI methodology will be tailor-made to vet the carbon intensity of hydrogen produced from a specific facility. This approach makes OHI distinct from popular lifecycle assessment tools in circulation today that conduct general carbon accounting for a class of technology, rather than a facility, at the regional or national level.

Open-sourced and therefore replicable

Once developed, OHI deliverables will be open-source to ensure credibility and transparency.

FAQ

Why is a carbon intensity tool for hydrogen important?

A tool that focusses on accurately measuring the carbon intensity of hydrogen production across a wide range of primary production pathways can provide market participants with a clear understanding of the decarbonization potential – and value – of given kilogram of hydrogen. By focusing on carbon intensity at the asset level, comparisons can move away from color labels towards a more universal understanding of the environmental benefits and value of hydrogen as a decarbonization fuel.

Such a tool can play an important role in assessing the value of hydrogen investments aimed at delivering decarbonization targets, as well as providing more robust data sets for hydrogen consumers, producers and traders who need to make informed choices about their options to leverage diverse technologies to meet net-zero commitments.

What is different about the OHI project?

Uniquely, all outputs from the OHI project will be made available to use on an open-source basis, to any interested party, including producers, investors, consumers, or regulators.

The OHI tool will generate carbon intensity measurements at the asset level moving beyond technology or industry averages. This level of detail will provide market participants and regulators with the requisite degree of granularity to make informed decisions and comparisons across decarbonization investment options.

The OHI tool will also provide a measure of confidence for the carbon intensity generated, which will be based on the range and quality of data used.

The organizing structure of OHI will be open to a wide array of interested parties and will involve working groups comprised of industry and technical experts. All outputs from the project will be peer-reviewed to ensure objective, credible, transparent tools are developed that can lead to a better understanding of the carbon intensity of hydrogen production.

The creation and adoption of these technical protocols will help harmonize the market, contextualize climate solutions, advance transparency and support the development of a globally traded hydrogen market.

How does the “color-wheel” approach potentially diminish the credibility and value of hydrogen in decarbonization strategies?

The “color-wheel” approach attempts to classify hydrogen based on the type of energy used to produce it but does not precisely or fully convey the carbon emissions in upstream processes. As the world transitions to a low-carbon future, it is critical that both public and private sector decision-makers have a more consistent, transparent, and comprehensive approach to measuring hydrogen’s carbon intensity.

OHI will look beyond “color-wheel” labels and embrace a more pragmatic and transparent measurement system that accounts for energy consumption and feedstock source, among other factors. This will ensure that the role and potential of hydrogen in decarbonization strategies is not overlooked based solely on the production of one particular molecule. The tool will also produce a “confidence score,” that defines the reliability of the score based on the quality of the data inputs into the tool.

Can this tool be used to assess hydrogen-related emissions across the entire value chain?

How will OHI advance the development of a globally traded hydrogen market?

How can investors use OHI data?

By developing objective, credible, peer-reviewed, transparent, and open-sourced tools for measuring the carbon intensity of hydrogen at the production level, OHI will help to close the data gap that currently undermines the commoditization of hydrogen. Put simply, OHI outputs will inform investments. OHI’s measurement tools will help market participants maximize their current or potential investments by providing more accurate evaluations against decarbonization targets.

Can policymakers use OHI data to gauge the emissions profile of projects, helping to inform funding authorizations or project awards?

While OHI will provide consistent data, it will not create or provide generic technology-specific emission factors. Furthermore, the initiative does not intend to use this product to shape, inform, or develop a regulatory strategy. Given the open-source nature of the protocols, however, it is possible that policymakers, emissions verifiers, or hydrogen marketplaces could choose to be informed by these tools.

Is the U.S. government backing or helping OHI?

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) providing technical guidance on OHI, but their input from a technical perspective in OHI is by no means an endorsement by the federal government in the methodology that OHI is creating. We are grateful for NETL’s technical and subject matter expertise, but there is no explicit endorsement of OHI by the federal government.

How do current events impact the role of OHI?

In the U.S., the hydrogen production tax credits introduced by the Inflation Reduction Act—combined with expanded incentives for CO2 capture, sequestration, and use—make a much more compelling economic case for investing in and scaling up these technologies. $3 per kilogram of hydrogen will make it easier for innovations to reach economic viability. These incentives require customers to have a high-fidelity understanding of the carbon intensity of hydrogen production at the facility level to make comparisons across suppliers and technologies. It puts a very fine point on the need for a holistic, transparent, rigorous, practical, and open-sourced tool to vet the carbon intensity of hydrogen production at the facility level. OHI is a first and fundamental step to carbon accounting, and a very necessary step to think about who qualifies for these types of incentives from the U.S. government.

How can I get involved in the OHI project?

Contact Us

To learn more about opportunities to participate in the Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI) or other questions about the initiative please submit a contact form.