China's 15th Five-Year Plan repositions clean hydrogen as the central axis of its energy strategy.

China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030), adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at the end of 2025 and in effect since January 2026, consolidates clean hydrogen as a strategic priority for the country. Embedded within the core of the high-quality growth policy, the plan links technological innovation, industrial resilience, and green development, reinforcing China's ambition to lead the global energy transition while strengthening its productive and technological self-sufficiency.

Hydrogen, innovation, and scale as drivers of China's new industrial phase

Among the plan's central guidelines is the construction of an integrated, market-oriented system for innovation, production, and supply of clean hydrogen, capable of operating on a large scale. The stated objective is to achieve regional self-sufficiency in low-carbon, renewable hydrogen, reducing external dependencies and creating solid industrial bases. The development of the sector is directly linked to China's broader environmental goals, which include peaking emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, with projections indicating that hydrogen will account for up to 8% of national energy consumption in the long term.

The plan also emphasizes the expansion of infrastructure, such as supply networks in industrial and mining areas, and the use of advanced applications, such as heavy-duty trucks powered by fuel cells. With this, the 15th Five-Year Plan signals a transition of hydrogen from an experimental policy to a structural pillar of the Chinese economy in the coming decades.