Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking opens €105 million call for 2026 projects

The programme funds 21 research and innovation topics and closes on 15th April 2026

January 28, 2026
European project funding

At a glance: the essentials of this article

The Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking has launched a new call for proposals with a budget of €105 million to fund research and innovation projects in hydrogen technologies. Open until 15 April 2026, the initiative is part of Horizon Europe and covers the entire value chain, from production to end uses, with the aim of strengthening European industrial competitiveness and accelerating the market uptake of these technologies.

€105 million at stake. The call mobilises European funding to drive the development of clean hydrogen.

21 funding lines available. The programme structures the call around 21 topics covering production, storage, distribution, end uses and hydrogen valleys.

Simplified funding model. All projects will be funded through lump sums, with funding rates of up to 100% depending on the type of action.

Greater focus on the market and private investment. The call caps public contributions for some topics and requires co-financing for more mature projects.

A strategic European approach. Projects will be expected to strengthen the EU’s industrial value chain and demonstrate alignment with other European initiatives and policy objectives.

The Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking – an institutional public-private partnership between the European Commission, Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research – has opened its 2026 call for proposals last week with a total budget of €105 million, aimed at advancing hydrogen technologies across production, distribution, storage and end use. The call will remain open until 15th April 2026, offering funding opportunities under Horizon Europe for research and innovation projects aligned with the EU’s hydrogen strategy.

The call covers 21 topics spanning:

Renewable hydrogen production (6 topics)
Hydrogen storage and distribution (4 topics)
Hydrogen end uses – Transport applications (4 topics)
Hydrogen end uses – Clean heat and power (3 topics)
Cross-cutting issues (2 topics)
Hydrogen valleys (2 topics)

Its objective is to support projects that contribute to the competitiveness of the European hydrogen value chain while moving technologies closer to market deployment, in line with the EU’s climate and energy targets.

Funding and lump sum

Innovation actions (IA) have a funding rate of 70% for for-profit entities and 100% for non-profit organisations. Research and innovation actions (RIA) and Coordination and support actions (CSA) are funded at 100%.

All topics in the call will be funded through lump-sum grants, a mechanism used under Horizon Europe to simplify financial management. Lump sums are fixed in advance in the grant agreement and are paid upon completion of the activities defined in the work packages. For innovation actions, particularly large-scale demonstrators or flagship projects, the programme allows equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the project to be declared as fully capitalised costs on an exceptional basis.

Requirements

The call introduces additional eligibility conditions aimed at maximising impact and private investment. For several topics, a ceiling is set on the maximum contribution that can be requested from the Joint Undertaking, especially for actions at high technology readiness levels involving real-world demonstrations. Applicants are expected to leverage co-funding from private investors or from regional and local sources, reflecting the programme’s focus on deployment and market uptake.

Another requirement is the involvement of private members of the partnership. For certain topics, at least one partner in the consortium must be a member of Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research. This condition applies in particular to large-scale demonstrations, flagship projects and strategic research actions where industrial and research partners are expected to play a central role in accelerating commercialisation.

Synergies with other European partnerships and funding programmes are strongly encouraged. The work programme identifies links with initiatives such as Clean Aviation for aeronautics, Euramet for metrology and ZEWT for maritime applications. Applicants are also invited to combine funding from other EU instruments, national or regional programmes and financial institutions, including the Innovation Fund, the Connecting Europe Facility or loans from the European Investment Bank, especially for hydrogen valleys and other flagship projects.

Projects funded under the 2026 call are expected to demonstrate a clear contribution to EU competitiveness and industrial leadership. This includes supporting European supply chains for hydrogen components, systems and infrastructure, as well as providing information on the origin of equipment and components used in the project. These aspects will be assessed during evaluation and monitored throughout implementation.

Additional activities

Beyond the call for proposals, the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking plans additional activities in 2026 to support the wider hydrogen ecosystem. These include a tender to set up a European Clean Hydrogen Start-Up Hub, with an indicative budget of €10 million, designed to help translate research results into investable start-ups and connect innovation with investors and industrial partners.

The Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking manages around €1 billion from Horizon Europe to support research and innovation activities, with an additional €200 million earmarked for hydrogen valleys under the RePowerEU initiative. Over its lifetime, the programme has supported more than 400 projects with total funding of €1.91 billion, covering the full hydrogen value chain from early research to large-scale demonstrations.