On October 28, 2026, a coalition of European energy, industry, technology and investment organizations published an open letter to the European Commission. In it, the signatories call for a regulatory framework for the exploration of natural hydrogen in Europe. The letter was initiated by the French exploration company Mantle8 and is spearheaded by the industry association Hydrogen Europe. It was handed over during European Hydrogen Week in Brussels. The addressees include Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Executive Vice-Presidents Teresa Ribera and Stéphane Séjourné, as well as Commissioners Dan Jørgensen, Wopke Hoekstra, Ekaterina Zaharieva and Jessika Roswall.
One billion euros for 50 natural hydrogen wellsSpecifically, the coalition proposes a funding envelope of one billion euros. This is intended to finance around 50 exploration and appraisal wells in at least ten member states, including the Baltic states and Eastern European countries. According to the signatories, this sum corresponds to less than 0.3 percent of EU spending on fossil energy imports in 2025, or about one day of import expenditures. The money is to cover geological assessment, drilling, flow testing and pilot production, as well as the technologies for separating, purifying and conditioning the gas.
The letter identifies four policy priorities:
– a technology-neutral design of the EU hydrogen framework, in which natural hydrogen becomes eligible for certification when it meets the 70 percent threshold for greenhouse gas savings
– the provision of the billion-euro budget and transparent, accelerated permitting procedures with fixed deadlines in the member states
– access to publicly funded subsurface data
– the development of a Europe-wide atlas for natural hydrogen.
Alliance sees Europe lagging behind in regulation
The coalition warns that Europe risks falling behind institutionally and in terms of regulation. As examples, the letter cites several countries that have already established structures for natural hydrogen exploration. In the United States, the Department of Energy has provided 20 million US dollars for 16 research projects, and the US Geological Survey has published national assessment tools. Australia combines state-level licensing with geological assessment at the federal level. Brazil’s 2024 hydrogen law recognizes geological hydrogen as renewable. The Canadian province of Saskatchewan has awarded 15 six-year permits covering more than 267,000 hectares that explicitly include natural hydrogen. “Europe risks doing the science while others collect the technology, the capital and the jobs,” the letter states.
At the EU level, according to the coalition, there have been first steps: the research project H2-Quest, funded with two million euros, and a twelve-month pilot study by the Directorate-General Grow are to assess European potential. In addition, on October 26, 2026, the Commission launched a consultation on the revised EU hydrogen strategy, in which natural hydrogen is explicitly mentioned for the first time as an emerging source for research and innovation. However, research and mapping alone do not create an investable market, the signatories argue.
Potential of natural hydrogen still unclear
Natural hydrogen is produced by geological processes in the subsurface and can accumulate in underground reservoirs. Unlike hydrogen obtained through electrolysis or from fossil energy sources, it would be a primary energy source. For market readiness, separation, purification and conditioning would also be required. The alliance refers to modeling by the US Geological Survey that points to large resources, although most of this is probably not economically recoverable. In Europe, research in Lorraine has provided indications of significant deposits.
To put the potential into context, the letter offers an illustrative calculation: 100 million tons of recoverable natural hydrogen would correspond to a gross resource value of around 100 to 200 billion euros. If this quantity were to replace fossil-derived hydrogen and meet the EU threshold for greenhouse gas savings, approximately 790 million tons of CO2 equivalent could theoretically be avoided.
Mantle8 works on reservoir prediction methods
“We initiated this letter because Europe must give natural hydrogen a fair chance to be explored,” says Emmanuel Masini, founder and CEO of Mantle8. The industry has the scientific expertise and technological capabilities, he said, but progress depends on suitable regulatory conditions. Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, adds: “The EU has the opportunity to shape the development of natural hydrogen from the outset and ensure that its potential is assessed within a coherent European framework.”
Mantle8 was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Grenoble, France. The company develops methods to identify active subsurface hydrogen generation and to find geological structures in which the gas could accumulate in economically relevant quantities prior to drilling. According to the company, its investors include Sandwater, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BPI, IP Group, Wind Capital and Calderion. The more than 30 signatories of the open letter include, in addition to Hydrogen Europe and Mantle8, Cleantech for Europe, France Hydrogène, Technip Energies, Vallourec, Thyssengas, Storengy, Teréga, H2Site, Axens and the European Federation of Geologists.
