The Clean Hydrogen Partnership is an Institutionalised European Partnership tasked to undertake research and innovation actions on hydrogen and fuel cells technologies with the aim to stimulate clean hydrogen production, distribution, storage, and end use applications. The Partnership gathers three partners: Hydrogen Europe Research, Hydrogen Europe, and the European Commission.

As per Council Regulation (EU) No 2021/0048 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Horizon Europe Joint Undertakings (the so-called “Single Basic Act”), the Clean Hydrogen Partnership will receive €1 billion of EU funding to undertake research and innovation activities over the 2021-2027 financial period.

This EU funding will have to be matched by the two private partners of the Partnership (Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe), via three types of financial contributions:

• IKOP (In-Kind contributions to OPerational activities): Amount of eligible costs incurred in a Clean Hydrogen Partnership project that are not funded by the Partnership (because the funding rate is lower than 100% - this solely applies to Innovation Actions).
• IKAA (In-Kind contributions to Additional Activities): Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe members are required to indicate additional research and innovation activities, outside of European projects but linked to their objectives, fostering the development of the fuel cells and hydrogen sector. This is to prove that research and industrial stakeholders also leverage an equivalent amount of funding (in the form of staff or equipment for example) for research within the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.
• Administrative costs: These costs cover the running of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership (staff, IT, offices, events…) and are shared between Hydrogen Europe Research, Hydrogen Europe and the European Commission. As per the Single Basic Act, Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe, via its members, have to cover up to 30,193,000€ in administrative costs.

In order for Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe to fulfil this duty, a mechanism has been established to collect a Project Contribution from Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe members within a successful consortium who has been granted EU funding. The Project Contribution is a fixed contribution, calculated as an equivalent of 3.5% of the total attributed grant, payable in full at the time of the first pre-payment received from the CH JU. This is reflected in the Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe statutes.

Certificates of HE or HER membership should be requested from HE or HER Secretariats. These certificates need to be uploaded/attached to the CHP proposal as an Annex (one document combining all membership certificates). This means that, if organisations want that their IKOP (financial contribution in a project – delta between project costs and awarded budget – max 30%) to be counted towards CHP financial contributions, they should be a Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research member or become a project member before the call closure of each year (click here for more information on the CH JU calls for proposals)

The Hydrogen Europe membership certificates can be obtained by contacting Hydrogen Europe’s membership team at members@hydrogeneurope.eu. While for the Hydrogen Europe Research membership certificate, please contact secretariat@hydrogeneurope.research.eu. 

Yes, only contributions from HE and HER members contribute to IKOP (In-Kind Contribution Procedure). While HE membership extends to all legal entities within a group of companies, the name and PIC number of the legal entity appearing in the proposal need to match the ones on the HE/HER membership certificate. Hence, each legal entity appearing in a proposal and wishing to contribute IKOP must possess a unique HE or HER membership certificate.

HE members can obtain their membership certificates by contacting Hydrogen Europe’s membership team at members@hydrogeneurope.eu. 

HER members can obtain their membership certificates by contacting Hydrogen Europe Research’s Secretariat at secretariat@hydrogeneuroperesearch.eu. 

Please note that HE/HER consortium members in (a) successful proposal(s) commit to remaining a project member until the end of the related project(s). 

For HE members, please note that membership is extended to the whole group of companies that are part of mother company (provided that the mother company owns at least 51% of the daughter company).

Yes to both questions. Only contributions from HE and HER members are counted as IKOP. While HE and HER membership extend to all legal entities within a group of companies or institution, the name and PIC number of the legal entity appearing in the proposal need to match the ones on the HE or HER membership certificate. Hence, each legal entity appearing in a proposal and wishing to contribute IKOP must possess a unique HE or HER membership certificate.

If one of the two entities is already a HE or HER member: please apply the procedure described in the answer to the question: My organisation is not a HE or HER member but is linked to a different legal entity that is a HE or HER Member. Do I need a separate HE or HER membership certificate to provide IKOP in a proposal?

If none of the two entities is a HE or HER member yet, you first need to apply for project membership to get your certificates. To do so, please fill in the application form available here.

When your project membership status is confirmed, you can send a request for the membership certificates by contacting Hydrogen Europe’s membership team at members@hydrogeneurope.eu.

Project membership is free. After evaluation of proposals one of the two following situations can arise:

• The proposal is successful and a Grant Agreement is signed with the Clean Hydrogen Partnership. The entity that is not a HE or HER member automatically becomes a project member for the full duration of the project. The same entity, if eligible, can also decide to become a full member in order to benefit from full membership services.
• The proposal is not successful (i.e., no Grant Agreement is signed with the Clean Hydrogen Partnership). The entity does not remain a project member but, if eligible, can decide to apply for the full membership. 

Clean Hydrogen JU calls are open to all. In parallel, innovation actions require that at least one consortium member by either member of Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe research. 

However, in line with Single Base Act (SBA) requirements, non-members are strongly encouraged to join Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research to share the burden of the hydrogen ecosystem’s CH JU 1B-financial contribution. 

Consequently, a majority, and by preference all, of the participating entities in CH JU projects should be, or should become, HE or HER members. It also adds a fairness element within a consortium since all members of the consortium participate to the effort.

Non-for-profit organisations or other companies that want to contribute with IKOP can become project members before the closure date of the annual call.

In case the project proposal is successful (= high score and invited to Grant Agreement Preparation – GAP) they remain a project member after signing the Grant Agreement for the CH JU project and have to remain member for the duration of the project.

As per Council Regulation (EU) No 2021/0048 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Horizon Europe joint undertakings, and in particular the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking ("the Single Basic Act"), the CH JU Programme Office is to be financed equally by the Commission, HE and HER.

HE’s and HER’s financial contribution to the administrative costs of the CH JU are funded via a ‘project contribution’. This ‘project contribution’ is an essential resource for contributing to the private sector’s share of the administrative costs of the CH JU Programme Office (Staff, IT, building costs linked to https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/about-us/organisation/programme-office-structure_en). The project contribution is being applied to other Joint Undertakings and has already been applied for FCH JU 1 & 2 (previous name of the CH JU) projects and, as such, is not a new concept. The project contribution is solely used for the payment of the administrative costs of the CH JU programme office.

For the CH JU, these project contributions will be collected fully and duly from the HE and HER beneficiaries: a project contribution must be paid by HE and HER member (existing and new) beneficiaries participating in all CH JU funded projects. The ‘project contribution’ should be factored into the proposal, yet it shall not be considered an eligible cost for the projects, and, as such, is not part of the grants.

The ‘project contribution’ is used solely and fully as a contribution to HE’s and HER’s payment for the running costs of the CH JU Programme Office, and a specific PPCA (Protected Project Contribution Account) has been put in place by HE to finance the administrative costs of CH JU Programme Office.

A project contribution of a maximum 3.5% will have to be paid by HE and HER beneficiaries of CH JU granted funding/projects. This project contribution is a fixed fee, calculated as a percentage of the grant received by the HE and HER member (as mentioned in the Grant Agreement), so not on the total grant received by the consortium.

3.5% shall be paid at the start of the project (at the time of the pre-financing of the grant).