---
title: "Green hydrogen between targets and costs (research idea)"
description: "Green hydrogen appears on 32 recent papers and hydrogen policy on 11, mostly in the economics journals, while projects are being cancelled as costs stay high. Which uses of hydrogen survive at realistic prices, and what do the subsidies buy?"
url: https://scholar4ai.com/ideas/green-hydrogen-costs
markdown_url: https://scholar4ai.com/ideas/green-hydrogen-costs.md
license: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
share_text: "Green hydrogen between targets and costs (research idea): Green hydrogen appears on 32 recent papers and hydrogen policy on 11, mostly in the economics journals, while projects are being cancelled as costs stay high."
date: "2026-10-23"
updated: "2026-10-23"
status: "seed"
tags: ["economics", "energy"]
keywords: ["green hydrogen", "hydrogen policy"]
---

# Green hydrogen between targets and costs

Green hydrogen appears on 32 recent papers and hydrogen policy on 11, mostly in the economics journals, while projects are being cancelled as costs stay high. Which uses of hydrogen survive at realistic prices, and what do the subsidies buy?

## What prompted this

Since October 2025, 100 papers carry a hydrogen keyword (60 in economics journals, 12 in AI, 12 in operations research, 11 in management): "green hydrogen" on 32, "hydrogen policy" on 11, "hydrogen storage" on 10. The count fell to 21 in July–September 2026 against about 25 per quarter earlier, as several flagship projects were shelved.

## Questions

- At electrolyser and electricity costs observed in 2025, which uses (fertilizer, steel, refining, shipping fuel, heating) break even, and which never will?
- How many announced projects reached final investment decision, and what distinguishes those that did?
- Do production subsidies such as the US hydrogen tax credit and the EU hydrogen bank lower costs over time, or mainly pay for projects that would exist anyway?

## Data that could help

Project databases (the IEA hydrogen project tracker), electrolyser price surveys, subsidy awards, and firm announcements.

## Next step

Compile the fate of every green hydrogen project announced in 2021–2023 and model the break-even hydrogen price for each end use at 2025 costs.

## Related research activity

*The keywords this note follows, in the tracked finance, accounting, economics, management, operations research and AI journals as of 2026-10-26*

| Keyword | Papers, last 30 days | Rank | Papers per month, Oct 23 – Oct 26* | Papers, last 36 months |
|---|---:|---:|---|---:|
| green hydrogen | 4 | #525 | 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 2, 1, 1, 0, 2, 2, 1, 5, 1, 3, 4, 5, 3, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 2, 4 | 51 |
| hydrogen policy | 1 | #2881 | 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 4, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1 | 10 |

## Cite this page

Scholar4AI. (2026). Green hydrogen between targets and costs. Journal Research Rankings. Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://scholar4ai.com/ideas/green-hydrogen-costs

```bibtex
@misc{scholar4ai-ideas-green-hydrogen-costs,
  author = {{Scholar4AI}},
  title = {Green hydrogen between targets and costs},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://scholar4ai.com/ideas/green-hydrogen-costs}},
  urldate = {2026-10-23},
  note = {Journal Research Rankings; data from OpenAlex (CC0); licensed CC BY-NC 4.0}
}
```

License: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).