I’ve long been in the electrify everything camp. For most applications - cars, trucks, buses, heating - electricity is simply more efficient, cheaper, and already here.
Which is why I’ve often found the push for hydrogen in those areas frustrating. When we know batteries and direct electrification work better, why push hydrogen where it makes little sense?
And yet, hydrogen is already an essential part of our industrial system. The irony is that today, hydrogen is more of a decarbonisation problem than a solution: over 90% of the 90 million tonnes used each year is produced from fossil fuels. Black and grey hydrogen dominate fertiliser production, refining, and heavy industry - making hydrogen one of the largest sources of industrial CO₂ emissions globally.
So the question is: can hydrogen ever be part of the solution?
That was the starting point for my latest Leaders in Cleantech podcast conversation with Emmanuel Masini, founder and CEO of Mantle8, a startup pioneering the exploration of natural hydrogen.
Hydrogen - made by the Earth itself
Emmanuel explains it like this:
💬 “Natural hydrogen, or white hydrogen, is the hydrogen you don’t need to manufacture. It’s produced by the Earth itself through geological processes. The real question is not whether it exists - we know it does, and the Romans knew it did 2,000 years ago - but whether it can be exploited at scale.”
Unlike green hydrogen, which is expensive to make using renewable electricity, natural hydrogen doesn’t require manufacturing. It’s formed by geological reactions deep underground, and in the right conditions, it accumulates in reservoirs much like oil or gas.
Mantle8’s mission is to find it - predictively and at scale.
The exploration challenge
One of the most striking points from our conversation was Emmanuel’s comparison to early oil and gas:
💬 “Drilling and producing is not the challenge. The challenge is exploration — knowing where to go, and proving it at scale.”
Mantle8 is developing a “tech stack” for predictive exploration - from identifying the right rocks, to imaging hydrogen flux at depth, to 4D scans of subsurface reservoirs. Their goal: prove reserves of 10 million tonnes by 2030, and produce their first kilogram by 2028.
The economics could be transformative. While green hydrogen in Europe still costs €5–6 per kilo, Emmanuel believes natural hydrogen could be produced for under €1/kg. If proven, that would be a game-changer.
Complementary, not competitive
What I appreciated was Emmanuel’s positioning. This isn’t about “killing” green hydrogen, but complementing it.
💬 “Natural hydrogen isn’t here to compete with green hydrogen - it’s complementary. It’s a way to reduce costs and accelerate the transition.”
And that’s the nuance I think our industry needs. Hydrogen will never make sense for cars or home heating. But for fertilisers, refining, green steel, and aviation fuels? If we can decarbonise hydrogen at scale - and even reduce its cost - then it becomes part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
A cautious optimism
I remain cautious. Hydrogen has been the next big thing for about 40 years or more, in which time Wind, Solar and Batteries........well, they've become 'a big thing'!
We’ve heard “game-changing” promises before, and natural hydrogen is still unproven at scale. There are regulatory bottlenecks, permitting challenges, and plenty of geology still to understand.
But I came away from this conversation with a sense of genuine possibility. Like fusion, it could be nothing, or it could be massive.
Either way, it’s worth watching closely.
🎧 You can listen to my full conversation with Emmanuel Masini of Mantle8 here on the Leaders in Cleantech podcast on all pod platforms or YouTube.
David Hunt