The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic regulator, in association with the National Energy Administration (NEA), last week unveiled the country's first medium- to long-term (2021-35) plan to promote high-quality development of the hydrogen industry.

Under the plan, China will seek to have around 50,000 hydrogen-fueled vehicles and a batch of hydrogen fueling stations by 2025.By then, the country aims to produce 100,000 metric tons to 200,000 tons of hydrogen generated from renewable energy sources a year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million tons to 2 million tons a year.

The plan is part of China's larger drive to build a clean, safe and efficient energy system, marking the country's latest move to achieve its goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

According to the plan, a relatively complete hydrogen industry technology innovation system as well as the clean energy-based hydrogen production and supply system will be formed by 2030, which will help in meeting the carbon peak goal.

By 2035, the share of hydrogen generated from renewable energy resources in the final energy consumption will be significantly expanded.

Wang Xiang, Deputy Director of the Department of Innovation and High-Tech Development at the NDRC, said development of the hydrogen industry will help the energy industry to transition to a green and low-carbon future.

“By 2035, a diversified application ecology of hydrogen energy will be formed, and the proportion of hydrogen production from renewable energy in final energy consumption will increase significantly, which will play an important supporting role in the development of the green energy transformation,” Wang added.

More efforts will be made to promote high-quality development of the hydrogen industry, including building a supporting platform to boost industrial innovation, constructing hydrogen infrastructure and promoting hydrogen applications in fields like transportation and industry, the plan stated.