In January 2024 Equinor and Linde agreed to develop a 1 GW low-carbon hydrogen plant at Eemshaven in the Netherlands. The project's climate case rested on a single number: the share of carbon dioxide it would capture. Two years later the project was on hold, and the reason was not that number.
Key takeaways
- Equinor announced on 8 January 2024 that it had partnered with Linde to develop the H2M Eemshaven low-carbon hydrogen project in the Netherlands, with no deal value disclosed.
- H2M Eemshaven is planned at 1 GW of production capacity, producing about 235,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year by reforming natural gas from the Norwegian continental shelf, with the CO2 captured and stored under the seabed offshore Norway.
- Under the H2M Eemshaven agreement, Linde will build, co-own and operate the hydrogen production and carbon capture facility, while Equinor secures carbon transport and storage capacity and offers the hydrogen to the market; Leap records the project as owned 50% by each.
- Equinor claims more than 95% of the CO2 from H2M Eemshaven will be captured and stored, while Enerdatics understands from research by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis that capturing close to 95% is an overly optimistic assumption.
- Leap records that Equinor suspended H2M Eemshaven development in February 2026, owing to regulatory uncertainty and insufficient funding commitments, with the project paused rather than cancelled and its $192 million EU Innovation Fund grant intact.
What kind of hydrogen would H2M Eemshaven produce?
Blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas, usually by reforming methane with steam, with the carbon dioxide released in the process captured and stored rather than vented. It differs from green hydrogen, which splits water using renewable electricity and produces no CO2 at all.
H2M Eemshaven was designed around that model. Gas from the Norwegian continental shelf would be reformed into hydrogen at the Eemshaven industrial area in the province of Groningen. The captured CO2 would be transported and stored permanently under the seabed offshore Norway. The hydrogen would serve steel production, chemicals and power generation, reaching customers through onshore hydrogen pipelines planned in both the Netherlands and Germany.
At signing, production was expected to begin in late 2028. Front-end engineering design, the detailed technical work that precedes a final investment decision, started in April 2024.
Why split the project between Equinor and Linde?
Because each company takes the part of the chain it already knows. Linde builds and runs industrial gas plants. Under the agreement it will construct, co-own and operate the hydrogen production unit and the carbon capture and transfer facility. Equinor brings the route to gas from the Norwegian continental shelf and to storage offshore Norway. It will secure access to carbon transport and storage and offer the low-carbon hydrogen to the market.
That division makes the project only as strong as its weakest link. A blue hydrogen plant without guaranteed CO2 storage is just a gas reformer with emissions. Equinor's role in carbon storage on both sides of the Atlantic is what makes it the natural partner for the storage end of the chain, while Linde carries the plant.
The deal itself carried no price. Leap records it as a joint venture with no buyer, no seller and no disclosed value. It is a development agreement, not an acquisition, so the commercial terms that matter will sit in the offtake and storage contracts rather than in a purchase price.
Why does the 95 percent capture figure carry so much weight?
Because it decides whether the hydrogen is low carbon at all. Every tonne of CO2 that escapes capture counts against the product. A plant capturing more than 95% of its emissions can claim a deep cut against unabated hydrogen. A plant capturing materially less makes a much weaker claim, and buyers paying a premium for low-carbon hydrogen will want to know which they are getting.
That is where the evidence divides. Equinor claims that more than 95% of the CO2 will be captured and stored safely and permanently. Enerdatics understands from IEEFA research that capturing close to 95% of CO2 emitted is an overly optimistic assumption. Leap carries both positions, and so does this analysis. The gap between them is the central technical risk in the project's climate case.
What happened after the partnership was signed?
Engineering started, and then the project stopped. FEED work began in April 2024. In February 2026, Equinor suspended development owing to regulatory uncertainty and insufficient funding commitments. Leap records the project as paused rather than cancelled, and its $192 million EU Innovation Fund grant remains intact.
The reasons Leap records are commercial and regulatory, not technical. A plant of this size needs long-term buyers, a stable rulebook for what counts as low-carbon hydrogen and enough committed capital to reach a final investment decision. The capture debate shapes the first two. The pause shows that without the third, the technology question never gets tested.
Enerdatics records four hydrogen M&A transactions in the Netherlands announced in 2023 and 2024, and only one carries a disclosed value: CPP Investments' $143 million investment in Power2X in July 2023. Two of the four, Mitsubishi with Eneco and Equinor with Linde, are joint ventures to develop projects rather than purchases of existing ones. Dutch hydrogen deal flow is thin, mostly partnership-led and almost entirely unpriced.
What does the deal signal for Dutch hydrogen?
It signals that large hydrogen projects in the Netherlands are being organised as partnerships between companies that each own one link of the chain. Gas supply, conversion, CO2 storage and offtake rarely sit in one balance sheet, so developers combine them through joint ventures and leave the money to be committed later. That keeps early costs low but leaves projects exposed when funding decisions arrive.
It also signals how much depends on policy. Where governments set a price for hydrogen output, as the UK did when it priced its first green hydrogen round, projects can be financed against that support. H2M Eemshaven secured an EU grant but, by Leap's record, not enough funding commitments to proceed. For the next Dutch hydrogen partnership, a signed offtake and a clear regulatory status may matter more than the capture rate in the plan.
Frequently asked questions
Who is developing the H2M Eemshaven hydrogen project? Equinor and Linde, under a project development agreement signed in January 2024. Linde builds, co-owns and operates the hydrogen and carbon capture plant, and Equinor handles CO2 transport and storage and offers the hydrogen to the market.
How much hydrogen would H2M Eemshaven produce? About 235,000 tonnes a year from a planned 1 GW of production capacity, made from Norwegian natural gas with the CO2 captured and stored offshore Norway.
Is the H2M Eemshaven project still going ahead? Leap records that Equinor suspended development in February 2026 because of regulatory uncertainty and insufficient funding commitments. The project is paused rather than cancelled, and its $192 million EU Innovation Fund grant remains in place.
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