Global hydrogen demand reached almost 100 million tonnes in 2024, while low-emissions production remained below 1 percent of supply, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The agency identifies production cost as a primary obstacle to wider adoption. That leaves a central practical question for the hydrogen economy. Could part of its future global supply come from low-cost and clean hydrogen already generated underground?
Natural hydrogen offers that possibility. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) explains that geological processes can generate hydrogen underground and allow it to collect in reservoirs. One process involves water reacting with iron-bearing rocks. Green hydrogen requires electricity to split water. A natural-hydrogen project searches for an accumulation, drills a well, and processes the recovered gas when separation is necessary.
This distinction could alter project costs because the energy-intensive generation stage has already occurred underground. A 2025 techno-economic study estimated production costs of $0.54 per kilogram for natural geological hydrogen under favorable U.S. conditions. The researchers cautioned that purity, wellhead flow rates, and delivery pressure affect that estimate and that commercial field data must still validate their assumptions.
Early modeling offers some indication of the possible scale. A 2024 study published in Science Advances placed the most probable modeled estimate of hydrogen underground at approximately 5.6 trillion metric tons. The authors emphasized considerable uncertainty and cautioned that most of the estimated resource would probably be impractical to recover. They calculated that 100 billion metric tons could supply the hydrogen projected to be needed to reach net-zero carbon emissions for about 200 years. These figures represent global model results rather than confirmed recoverable reserves.
Morten Stahl began following the field more than four years ago and later co-founded Natural Hydrogen Ventures, an investor and developer focused on natural hydrogen. Stahl explains that the firm has invested in or co-founded seven companies across the value chain, including exploration activity in the United States and Australia. His work, he adds, centers on assessing commercial potential, backing early-stage companies, and connecting technical teams with investors and industry specialists.
“When I first started looking at natural hydrogen, most people would simply tell you that it did not exist,” Stahl recalls. S&P Global reported in 2025 that a natural hydrogen energy startup had raised $394 million. Forbes reported that its 2024 financing round was led by Khosla Ventures and included Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and United Airlines’ Sustainable Flight Fund. According to Stahl, Natural Hydrogen Ventures counted more than 100 companies exploring for geologic hydrogen worldwide by mid-2026.
Stahl also co-founded NatH2Investing, which he identifies as a dedicated media platform. The platform maintains the NatH2 Index, an equal-weighted measure of ten publicly traded companies with estimated exposure to the sector. Stahl explains that NatH2Investing maintains an index of publicly traded companies with exposure to natural hydrogen, offering one way to observe investor interest in the emerging sector.
According to Stahl, the commercial case does not depend on future uses. The IEA reports that refining and industry drove hydrogen-demand growth in 2024. Stahl therefore focuses on established customers in fertilizer, chemicals, and refining. “There is already a very large hydrogen economy,” he notes. “It is simply mostly fossil-based today.”
Existing expertise may be relevant. A 2026 peer-reviewed study observed that oil-and-gas technologies are likely adaptable to natural-hydrogen production. The researchers found that commercially recoverable quantities remain uncertain and identified sustained flow rates and purity as economic considerations. Stahl believes those questions can be tested through drilling and field evaluation.
“It is simply too big of an opportunity to miss,” Stahl explains. “For me, it also fits with a broader ambition to be a good ancestor, to invest in a way that can create wealth and opportunities for future generations while supporting energy solutions that can contribute to a livable climate and planet.”
