Cipher’s Clean Technology Tracker (the Tracker) is based on data from the Clean Investment Monitor (CIM), a joint project of Rhodium Group and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR). The CIM tracks public and private investments in greenhouse gas emissions-reducing technologies in the United States, with a focus on recent investments since 2018 as a baseline. Currently, the CIM tracks technologies that are eligible for tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), though this scope may broaden over time. You can learn more about the CIM here and their methodology here.

Cipher’s Tracker focuses on technologies and fuels used to decarbonize sectors whose emissions are considered hard to abate, including: electrolyzer manufacturing, clean hydrogen production, carbon management and sustainable aviation fuel.

The following variables from the CIM are used in the Tracker:

Timing: Investments displayed in the Tracker begin in Q4 2018 through Q2 2024 (subject to change as data is updated).

Investment Estimated: Total investment required to construct the proposed or actual facility, based on reported investment, extrapolated based on reported capacity and facility characteristics or modeled based on known investments in similar facilities. Investment units are 2023 USD Million.

Company: The company making the investment or the name of the project.

Project Status: The status of each project: announced; in operation; or under construction. Announced projects include permitting and design phase but do not include announcements of intent without a specific location or commitment of resources. Our visualizations exclude any project that has been canceled. To the degree more projects are canceled in the future, we will revisit their inclusion in the Tracker. Note that there are cases where multiple projects are happening at the same physical location.

Announcement Year: Date the project was first announced, or, if that information is unavailable, the publication date of a news article or press release covering the announcement. The announcement year displayed in the pop-up boxes is pulled from the Announcement Date variable in the CIM. Not all projects include data on Announcement Date.

A small number of projects in the CIM database do not include investment data because there is insufficient reliable information; these projects are also not mapped in the Tracker.

Technology: Broad technology category. Technology category names used in the CIM have been slightly changed for clarity in the Tracker. “Electrolyzer Manufacturing” in the Tracker is referred to as “Electrolyzers” in the CIM; “Clean Hydrogen Production” in the Tracker is referred to as “Hydrogen” in the CIM; “Critical Mineral Processing” in the Tracker is referred to as “Critical Minerals” in the CIM. Clean hydrogen includes hydrogen produced from zero-emitting electricity and from natural gas and oil with carbon capture.

Type: A more detailed technology classification, under the broader “Technology” category. In the CIM this variable is referred to as “Subcategory.” See below for a comprehensive list of each detailed technology type within each broader technology category.

 

Technology	Types
Carbon Management	Cement Clean Fuels Direct Air Capture Iron and steel LNG liquefaction Natural gas processing Power Refining and natural gas Pulp and Paper Storage
Electrolyzer Manufacturing	AEM (anion exchange membrane) Alkaline Alkaline, PEM (proton exchange membrane) PEM SMR, electrolysis (steam methane reforming) SOEC (solid oxide electrolyzer cells)
Clean Hydrogen Production	ALK (alkaline electrolysis) Biomass Methane Pyrolysis NG w CCUS (natural gas with carbon capture and storage) Oil w CCUS PEM SOEC Aluminum to hydrogen using a steam turbine Coal with CCS Geologic hydrogen Unknown Electrolysis Waste
Sustainable Aviation Fuel	AtJ (alcohol to jet) Bio-FT (biomass using Fischer-Tropsch technology) Bio-FT PtJ (plastics to jet) FT (Fischer-Tropsch) HEFA (hydro-processed esters and fatty acids) MSW-FT (municipal solid waste using FT tech) MtJ (methanol to jet) PtL (power to liquids) Unknown
Critical Minerals Processing	Cobalt sulfate Cobalt sulfate, nickel Cobalt, nickel Cobalt, nickel, lithium Graphite Lithium carbonate Lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide Lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, rare-earth oxides Lithium hydroxide, spodumene Lithium hydroxide Manganese sulphate Nickel Nickel, lithium carbonate Rare-earths Rare-earth metals Rare-earth oxides, Neodymium Zinc