Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the Notice on Approving the Pilot Work for Comprehensive Hydrogen Energy Applications in Five City Clusters Including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (MIIT Joint Energy Conservation Letter [2026] No. 266). Following formal review, expert evaluation, and on-site defense, they approved in principle the pilot work plans for five city clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Greater Bay Area, Northeast China (including eastern Inner Mongolia) — Yangtze River Delta, Xinjiang — Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, and the Yellow River Jiziwan — Central China, to carry out pilot work for comprehensive hydrogen energy applications, with a pilot period of four years.
Four Lists Implemented to Create Replicable and Scalable Experience
The notice requires accelerating the implementation of four lists: hydrogen energy technology and equipment breakthroughs, hydrogen energy projects in the industrial sector, fuel cell vehicle promotion, and hydrogen refueling station construction, to create replicable and scalable experience for the development of the hydrogen energy industry. It is necessary to establish a complete industry chain and supply chain, ensure the smooth flow of the domestic market, and prevent and overcome local protectionism; rationally plan the construction of key projects, highlight the characteristics and coordination of city clusters, and prevent "small but complete" approaches, herd behavior, and low-level redundant construction; establish and improve safety management systems, designate specific responsible departments, and strictly implement them in place; and conduct performance management, promptly evaluating the economic, social, and ecological benefits of the pilot work.
Central Government Incentive Funds Linked to Assessment and Evaluation
The three departments will provide follow-up guidance on the pilot work and conduct assessment and evaluation, with the evaluation results serving as the basis for the central government to allocate incentive funds to the pilot city clusters. The notice requires ensuring that central government incentive funds are disbursed in full and on time in accordance with regulations, maximizing the effectiveness of the incentive funds, effectively reducing the cost of hydrogen use, and transmitting the benefits to the end-use product consumption stage. For city clusters where progress falls short of expectations or where local incentive funds are not disbursed in a timely manner, the three departments will take measures such as deducting or suspending central government incentive funds as appropriate. The incentive funds shall be used by local governments in a coordinated manner to support comprehensive hydrogen energy applications and shall not be used for other purposes such as balancing budgets, repaying government debt, or clearing overdue payments owed to enterprises.
The launch of the comprehensive hydrogen energy application pilot in these five city clusters marks a new stage in China's hydrogen energy industry, moving from demonstration applications to large-scale promotion, and will explore replicable and scalable experience models for the high-quality development of the national hydrogen energy industry.
