Attention on hydrogen in China has surged in recent months after a slew of announcements by companies promising investment in the emerging technology. The firms entering the race to develop the fuel include clean energy giants, oil refiners and even steel-makers.
The NDRC’s plan will help establish the scale of China’s ambitions for the fuel amid some of the firmer targets already set out by other nations. The European Union has said its investment in hydrogen could hit 470 billion euros ($565 billion) by 2030.
In the meantime, the global imperative to cut emissions has received a huge boost from U.S. President Joe Biden’s commitment to climate action, culminating in this week’s summit attended by the world’s top leaders including China’s President Xi Jinping.
China is by far the biggest contributor of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and has faced pressure from other nations to accelerate its path to peak emissions and set out in more detail how it intends to reach net-zero.
The China Hydrogen Alliance said this week that the fuel could account for 20% of the nation’s energy mix by 2060, the deadline that Xi has set for China to become a carbon-neutral country.
The NDRC’s plan is also likely to draw on other governmental efforts, including as yet unpublished proposals from the National Energy Administration on energy technology, which will be heavily focused on hydrogen.
Source: Bloomberg