Earlier this year, Atmen is born to provide hydrogen producers with the technology and tools to raise and achieve their decarbonisation ambitions. Atmen does this by building software to trace sustainability attributes, scale certification practices and automate compliance.
Decarbonizing our global economy counts amongst the top challenges of our time. Direct electrification can take us far on this path, but not all the way. For entire segments of our economy – steel, glass, cement, chemicals, fertilizers, shipping, aviation sectors known as “hard to abate” and responsible for about 22% of global greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen is the most straightforward energy carrier to achieve decarbonisation. As such, hydrogen stands out as an incredibly important piece of the net zero emissions puzzle. Hence the attention boom for hydrogen in the previous year. In 2022 some 680 large-scale hydrogen project proposals, equivalent to USD 240 billion in direct investment through 2030, have been put forward worldwide – an investment increase of 50% since November 2021 (1).
It is only as clean as the energy used to produce and ship it. If produced and shipped with carbon-rich energy sources, hydrogen will not be a boon to net zero agendas. Hydrogen needs to be produced using carbon free processes in order to contribute to decarbonisation. What does this mean?
If produced through the electrolysis of water, carbon-free electricity needs to be used as the primary energy source. If produced from natural gas, carbon capture needs to effectively take place in the process.
Then comes shipping: as large shares of hydrogen are expected to be traded globally by 2030, the industry will have to make sure that shipping-related emissions do not stifle the benefits of resorting to hydrogen vs. fossil fuels.
(1) Source: Hydrogen Council & McKinsey Report, September 2022
The bottom line
If done right, hydrogen can accelerate real decarbonisation. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), hydrogen has the potential to avoid up to 80 GT of carbon emissions by 2050. Yet, if done wrong, hydrogen could slow down the energy transition. This chemical engineering reality is the main reason for regulatory complexity being created around the topic of hydrogen. Governments and businesses are only interested in hydrogen to the extent that it enables decarbonisation. Therefore they need to make sure that the hydrogen turn is taken right.
Atmen is proud to announce its latest achievement as the winner of the coveted H2-Age Award at this year’s National Hydrogen Economic Forum. This recognition underscores Atmen’s pivotal role in advancing the hydrogen industry through innovative solutions.
Sponsored by the National Hydrogen Economic Forum, the BMW Group, Hamburg Invest, and the Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster (EEHH), the H2-Age Award celebrates trailblazing start-ups that propel the hydrogen sector forward. The award spotlights outstanding innovations across the entire hydrogen value chain, supporting young companies poised to make significant impacts.
Atmen was honoured at the 3rd National Hydrogen Economic Forum in Hamburg on May 7, 2024, where the team not only received a €5,000 prize but also a trophy and the title of "Best Hydrogen Start-up 2024". The event provided a platform for Atmen to showcase its products to a distinguished audience, including industry leaders and innovators.
The decision was made by a distinguished panel of judges, including Dr. Stefan Kaufmann, Member of the German Bundestag and former Federal Government Commissioner for Hydrogen Innovation; Prof. Dr. Christopher Hebling, Director of International Affairs at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE; and Jan Rispens, Managing Director of Erneuerbare Energien Hamburg Clusteragentur GmbH (EEHH).
In his laudatory speech, Jan Rispens particularly emphasized the platform's high degree of digitalization and the relevance of the green certification topic for the sector. Atmen provides the ideal interface between legal and regulatory requirements for green hydrogen certification, including for the requirements of the European Commission in accordance with the RED II Directive, and the operational data flows during production, supply and use of green hydrogen. It turns a complex, tedious topic into a set of highly usable applications, derisking hydrogen projects development and operations.
"We are at a turning point in the way the industry verifies its sustainability efforts. Hydrogen and e-fuels are a core part of the industrial decarbonization, but also the first energy-intensive products where the complexity of proving and certifying decarbonization are so acute." commented Flore de Durfort, co-founder and CEO of Atmen.
Atmen continues to push the boundaries of technology and innovation in the hydrogen industry, committed to contributing to a sustainable and energy-efficient future.
Photo, from left to right: Heike Tipmonta, HIW Hamburg Invest (Sponsor), Anne Kleczka, BMW Group (Sponsor), Prof. Dr. Christopher Hebeling, FhG-ISE (Juror), Dr. Dominik Peller (Atmen), Flore de Durfort (CEO Atmen), Jan Rispens, EEHH (Juror und Sponsor), Nina Alswede, HIW Hamburg Invest (Sponsor), Stefan Kaufmann, MdB (Juror)
In a significant development for the hydrogen and e-fuels industry, TÜV NORD EnSys GmbH & Co. KG has partnered with Munich-based technology firm Atmen. This collaboration aims to assist hydrogen and e-fuels project developers in navigating the complexities of EU sustainability compliance and certification - a critical aspect of business operations even before supply chains are fully operational.
Central to this partnership is Atmen's "H2 Compliance Monitor", designed to enhance developers' understanding of EU green compliance requirements. By simulating energy flows and carbon intensity along the value chain, and assessing forecasted operational flows for compliance, the technology tool efficiently addresses compliance challenges and suggests a path for optimal supply chain design. As a result, a compliance report is generated. The tool is developed to save time and foster trust among offtakers, partners, public institutions and investors right from an early stage of project development.
TÜV NORD EnSys and Atmen will jointly market this product, combining Atmen's technological solution with TÜV NORD´s extensive knowledge and technical advisory services. TÜV NORD EnSys adds value to the partnership by collaborating on the H2 CRC methodology and offering additional services like tailored certification roadmaps and detailed energy simulation to the customers. This approach ensures a comprehensive strategy for achieving EU sustainability compliance.
Flore de Durfort, CEO of Atmen, commented on the partnership: "Working with TÜV NORD EnSys to offer our clients a sophisticated simulation, screening and optimization tool represents a significant step in our effort to reduce manual workloads. This collaboration allows our clients to better understand regulatory requirements, streamline their projects for sustainability, foster trust and accelerate projects path to Final Investment Decision (FID)."
Silvio Konrad, Chairman of the Management Board of TÜV NORD EnSys, also expressed satisfaction with the collaboration:"We are pleased to collaborate with Atmen, bringing together our expertise to assist customers from the early stages of hydrogen project development to operational execution. This partnership is about leveraging technology to embed the critical dimensions of compliance and potential certification in the engineering phases of hydrogen supply chains. It is about de-risking projects by building trust around their sustainability."
This partnership marks an important step forward in supporting sustainable practices within the hydrogen and e-fuels sector.
About Atmen
Atmen is a regulatory technology company based in Munich, Germany, innovating in carbon intensity certification automation.The company was founded by Flore de Durfort, Quentin Cangelosi and Erika Degoute in Munich in January 2023 with competence at the crossing of energy markets and policies and technology. With a focus on energy-intensive industries, Atmen’s platform is designed to facilitate large-scale, verifiable decarbonization processes. For more information, please visit www.Atmen.co
AboutTÜV NORD EnSys
TÜV NORD EnSys supports industries and the energy sector with testing services, technical assessments and studies in transformation processes for defossilisation, digitalisation and sustainability. The service portfolio for safe and efficient technical systems includes the areas of renewable energies, sector coupling, storage and grid infrastructures, Power-to-X and alternative energy sources such as green hydrogen and ammonia. TÜV NORD EnSys aims to further expand its presence in the hydrogen landscape nationally and internationally by joining forces with innovative companies and solutions for the digitalisation of the supply chain.
For more information, please visit www.tuev-nord.de
Photo: Flore de Durfort, CEO of Atmen, and Silvio Konrad, Chairman of the Management Board of TÜV NORD EnSys, signed the agreement in Essen. (Image: TÜV NORD)
- Edited on 6th of June 2024 to update Atmen's product name "H2 Compliance Monitor" -