sbh4 is an independent advisory firm focused on decarbonisation and defossilisation through e-fuels, e-fertilizers, biofuels, SAF, CCTUS, GHG emissions reduction, and the emerging hydrogen economy.
We provide ‘net-zero’ advisory services related to strategy, technology, and project development. The scope, budget and timescale of each engagement is customised to your requirements. Much of our work is performing due diligence on behalf of investors. These engagements are generally on fixed timelines and with clearly defined deliverables.
We also take long-term ‘operating partner’ engagements in support of operating companies seeking to decarbonise, startups looking to grow and project developers who are keen to prepare the most investable clean energy projects with the best returns. In these cases, the nature of our support can evolve flexibly through the engagement.
In the past decade, hydrogen has grown from an industrial gas to being hyped as the “silver bullet” for the energy transition in the years 2020 to 2023. Green, blue, turquoise and a whole rainbow of colours emerged. Mid decade, expectations for hydrogen are now much more realistic. Through this cycle, my consulting engagements with hydrogen started out educating investors and startups to the broad hydrogen market and key technologies in the value chain. Then, there was a peak of activity supporting investors with due diligence into hydrogen projects and technologies.
At this high-point of interest in hydrogen, project developers sought my support to optimise their hydrogen and hydrogen derivative project business cases for bankability. Industrial emitters were keen to understand if hydrogen would play a role in their path to net-zero emissions or whether alternative levers such as biofuels and CO2 capture would be more viable.
As realism entered the world of hydrogen, it became clear that green hydrogen would need to be converted to green ammonia, e-methanol and SAF to enable transportation. And, blue and turquoise hydrogen became returned to favour as the comparatively high cost of green hydrogen in many locations became evident.
A similar transition can be mapped out for CO2 as it has progressed from classical sources and established commercial applications to DAC and biogenic CO2 sources and emerging applications for CDR and electrofuels.
Now, it is startups in the decarbonisation technology space who are most strongly pulling for my support. The investors are more cautious. It is a buyer’s market, no longer a seller’s market where investors were queuing up to get involved. The business plans that startups are proposing need to be stronger and rooted in early commercial traction. The pitch decks and sell-side information need to highlight genuine differentiators. Go to market must be more focused.
Yes, changing times, and a changing focus for consulting engagements at sbh4. These transitions are the essence of the flexible approach that sbh4 is able to bring to consulting – built on a diverse range of business experience and industry expertise, combined with the agility of being a sole-operator.
Our mission at sbh4 is to find the right solution to the problem. In our goal of supporting planetary health, we will consider the options and recommend the most appropriate strategic concept and technology mix. Beyond climate-tech, clean energy projects, and supporting the pursuit of net-zero operations, our consulting services are offered in the areas of industrial gases, gas analysers for process automation and gas detection.
The founder of sbh4 is Stephen B. Harrison. His experience with hydrogen, CO2 and other gases extends over more than 30 years. Of those, 16 were with BOC Gases in the UK and The BOC Group internationally. He also worked as a senior global executive for Linde Gas in Munich for 10 years.
Through Stephen’s involvement in industrial gases, he has a deep exposure to a diverse range of products, including hydrogen, carbon dioxide, air gases and helium. Medical gases, fuel gases, welding gases, beverage dispense gases, specialty gases and refrigerant F-gases were also in his business portfolios at BOC and Linde for many years. Equipment, such as two product ranges of PEM electrolysers for hydrogen production, high purity gas control equipment and gas cylinders of all sizes and types were integral to the businesses that he led.
Since 2017, Stephen has been running the decarbonisation, due diligence, coaching, strategic communications and climate-tech growth advisory services at sbh4. He brings his expertise in the hydrogen, CO2 and industrial gases value chains to his work. Additional pillars of decarbonisation where he advises are biofuels, lithium ion battery recycling, sustainable energy, and the electrification of industrial processes to avoid fossil fuel combustion.
I have conducted more than 40 M&A and investment due diligence engagements since 2017. These were a mixture of buy-side, sell-side, commercial, technical, operations and EHS assignments. Prior to working as a consultant, I was responsible for integrating specialty gases businesses acquired from Airgas, Praxair, Air Products, Gaspro, AGA and BOC into The Linde Group. Having seen the M&A process from the outside and the inside and the preparations and the post M&A integration I have a very rounded and pragmatic view of the full M&A process and its associated synergies, opportunities, and risks. In 2022 I was engaged by an investor to complete a buy-side technical and EHS due diligence of a green-field site integrated hydrogen, ammonia, CO2, helium, F-gases, specialty gases and industrial gases facility.
Paolo Farina, Consultant and Technical Gas Lead at Nexant, September 2020:
“Stephen was a fantastic project manager on a recent refrigerant gases M&A project we undertook. His direct and honest management philosophy was refreshing and certainly made a challenging project exciting and enjoyable”.
With a career spanning 27 years in the Industrial Gases business, working for BOC and Linde, I have an intimate knowledge of this industry. I was active in all major business areas: tonnage pipeline supply, bulk process gases and packaged cylinder gases. Over that time, I spent 15 years in global strategic leadership roles and was heavily involved in acquiring and integrating business from Air Products, Airgas, AGA, Gaspro, Matheson, Praxair and Spectra Gases. I have also worked closely with Air Liquide joint venture companies and competed with Messer, Matheson Tri Gas and countless others. So, I have an insight into almost every major industrial gases company operating in the global arena today. For 18 years I was involved in Specialty Gases commercial, business and supply chain roles at a national, regional and global level. In the Specialty Gases product group, my expertise is probably unparalleled in terms of breadth and depth of exposure. Many of my insights have been published in a diverse range of business and industry journals worldwide.
Increasingly, businesses are coming to sbh4 to support their decarbonisation strategy. In Europe, each M&A transaction must be accompanied by an ESG due diligence. So, companies in PE ownership are keen to demonstrate that they have a robust decarbonisation action plan and are making progress towards it. They know that achieving a good valuation multiple depends on their proven pathway to decarbonisation. Our role ranges from decarbonisation equipment technology selection to budgetary cost estimates for the required transition to finding sources and suppliers for carbon-neutral energy vectors. Business operations in emerging markets are also motivated to decarbonise due to pressure from international customers and the desire from privately owned businesses to simply “do the right thing”.
Many new clean-tech startups are emerging each week. Taking a great technical idea to market can be a skill that is new to the startup team. Raising funds is also a challenge that the startup has not been prepared for in their PhD studies. I have supported cleantech startups working in the fields of direct air capture of CO2 (DAC), electrolyser critical components and lithium ion battery recycling to navigate their way out of the laboratory and into the real world. The issues are often gaining a deeper market understanding, product positioning versus peers or alternatives and understanding key attributes of the value proposition. Communication of their magic mix and the necessary ‘asks’ to support scale up is also essential – to their potential customers, strategic partners and investors. My position in the industry as a specifier of equipment for projects, conducting buy-side due diligence, and analysing markets gives me a unique cluster of insights which I can use to support startups climb the technical and commercial maturity ladders successfully.
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