Low-carbon hydrogen and e-fuels: Value chain

Who supplies power, kit and buyers in the hydrogen chain

What this tab covers Who does what, from equipment makers to builders, owners, operators, traders and users, with the leading companies at each step.

Low-carbon hydrogen links energy suppliers (renewable power, natural gas), technology makers (electrolysers, reformers, capture solvents), project developers and storage operators for CO2, and the existing big users of hydrogen.

The chain

Energy inputs Electrolyser makers Reformer and capture technology licensors Pyrolysis developers Projects and owners Users

Stage	What happens	Leading companies
Energy inputs	Low-cost wind and solar for electrolysis, or natural gas plus a CO2 store for reforming. The IEA estimates green hydrogen in China can cost 40-45% less than in Europe or the US.	Envision (China)¹⁰
Electrolyser makers	China has about 60% of manufacturing capacity, Europe 20% and the US 10% (see the Electrolysers tile).	thyssenkrupp nucera (Germany) LONGi Hydrogen (China) Nel (Norway) Siemens Energy (Germany) Plug Power (United States)⁹¹¹¹²
Reformer and capture technology licensors	Licensed SMR and ATR designs, plus solvents and cryogenic units to strip out the CO2. Technip Energies says its technology is in over 275 hydrogen plants, more than 30% of installed capacity (company claim).	Topsoe (Denmark) Air Liquide (France) Technip Energies (France) Shell Cansolv (United Kingdom)⁶¹³¹⁴¹⁵
Pyrolysis developers	Start-ups and majors electrifying methane cracking, as surveyed in a 2025 review.	Monolith (United States) Aurora Hydrogen (Canada) HiiROC (United Kingdom) Levidian (United Kingdom) Molten Industries (United States) ExxonMobil (United States)⁷
Projects and owners	Installed electrolysis doubled in 2025 to more than 4 GW; China has 65% of the electrolyser capacity installed or past final investment decision (FID).	NEOM Green Hydrogen (Saudi Arabia) Stegra (Sweden) Envision (China)¹³¹⁰¹¹
Users	Over 85% of low-emissions hydrogen investment targets existing uses in industry and refining, or hydrogen-based fuels.	²

Sources

Global Hydrogen Review 2026: Production International Energy Agency, 2026
Global Hydrogen Review 2026: Investment and innovation International Energy Agency, 2026
Low-emissions hydrogen projects are set to grow strongly despite wave of cancellations and persistent challenges (Global Hydrogen Review 2025 press release) International Energy Agency, 2025
Comparison of Commercial, State-of-the-Art, Fossil-Based Hydrogen Production Technologies (costs in 2018 USD) US DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory, 2022
Recent Advances in Electrified Methane Pyrolysis Technologies for Turquoise Hydrogen Production (Rohani, Sudiiarova, Lyth, Badakhsh), Energies 18(9) 2393 MDPI, 2025
Green H2 electrolyser sector enters consolidation: IEA (reporting IEA Global Hydrogen Review 2026) Argus Media, 2026
The IEA's Global Hydrogen Review 2025: green hydrogen ramp up is slower than we wanted, but it is happening all the same (reporting IEA figures) Green Hydrogen Organisation (GH2), 2025
thyssenkrupp nucera General Investor Presentation, May 2026 thyssenkrupp nucera, 2026
BNEF reveals top ten hydrogen electrolyser makers in the world by deliveries in 2024: six are Chinese Hydrogen Insight (reporting BloombergNEF), 2025
Topsoe's advanced SynCOR solution enables mega-scale H2 production H2 Tech, 2024
Low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia technologies Air Liquide Engineering and Construction, 2026
Blue H2 by T.EN (company claims) Technip Energies, 2026