March 25th, Beijing:During the 2026 China International Hydrogen Congress and Expo (CIHC) held in Beijing, the China Hydrogen Alliance (CHA) officially released the Global Carbon Code Hydrogen Industry Node and simultaneously completed the signing of the first green hydrogen transaction based on the Hydrogen Industry Node.

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In the presence of representatives from various ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), and the National Energy Administration (NEA), relevant experts, as well as more than 1,300 representatives from international organizations and domestic and foreign enterprises in the hydrogen energy field attending the conference, representatives from Beijing Green Exchange (BGEX), China Hydrogen Alliance, Zhongguancun Institute of Industrial and Information QR Code Technology (ZIIOT), the Department of Statistics and Accounting of the National Climate Strategy Center under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Low-Carbon Research and Evaluation Center of Chengdu Customs Technology Center jointly completed the release of the Global Carbon Code Identification System and launched the Hydrogen Industry Node. Representatives from Hebei Branch of Guohua Energy Investment Co., Ltd. (Hydrogen Energy Company) of China Energy Investment Corporation and Beijing Petroleum Branch of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) signed the transaction on behalf of both parties, with the China Hydrogen Alliance and Beijing Green Exchange as joint witnesses. Media outlets including CCTV.com, Xinhua News Network, and Xuexi Qiangguo provided full live coverage of the event.

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The Global Carbon Code Hydrogen Industry Node launched on the same day addresses three major bottlenecks in the hydrogen energy industry: fragmented data across the entire industrial chain, difficulties in tracing the full life cycle of products, and disconnection between domestic and international standard systems. It aims to create a green value digital infrastructure solution to support the large-scale, low-carbon, standardized and international development of China's hydrogen energy industry. Based on the Global Carbon Code technical specifications, the Hydrogen Industry Node assigns a unique code to each hydrogen energy product. Relying on blockchain technology, it realizes the on-chain storage, permanent traceability and immutability of full-life-cycle data. Through a set of standardized identification systems, it builds a globally unified hydrogen digital identity system, a digital ecological bridge connecting the entire industrial chain, and a full-chain traceable green hydrogen value closed-loop channel for the hydrogen energy industry.

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The node boasts three core values. First, it establishes a globally unified hydrogen digital identity system, fundamentally solving the problems of difficult product tracing and unclear product identity. Second, it connects all links of the hydrogen production, storage, transportation and application industrial chain, builds an integrated hydrogen digital ecosystem, and significantly reduces the collaboration costs between upstream and downstream industries. Third, it forms a full-chain traceable green hydrogen value closed loop, where a set of core data can be simultaneously adapted to multiple international standards and specifications, helping realize the monetization and global circulation of green hydrogen's value. The Hydrogen Industry Node can serve four categories of user groups, including hydrogen production/application/equipment enterprises, government departments in charge/supervision, exchanges/certification mechanisms, and financial institutions/investment institutions, providing digital services such as green identity locking, credible information tracing, and regulatory data support for different entities.

Notably, the Hydrogen Industry Node is not just a single digital tool but also related to the high-quality and long-term development of China's hydrogen energy industry. First, it can lay a core digital foundation for building a unified national hydrogen energy market. Through standardized and full-link digital capabilities, it breaks regional circulation barriers and data silos, promoting the circulation and efficient allocation of hydrogen energy production factors in a wider range. Second, it can help open the domestic and international dual circulation system of the hydrogen energy industry. Through an identification resolution system that complies with international norms, it promotes the alignment of domestic and international industrial chain and supply chain rules, facilitates qualification mutual recognition across mechanisms, regions and countries, and builds a compliant channel for Chinese hydrogen energy enterprises to go global. Third, it is a specific practice to proactively support the high-quality development of the global hydrogen energy industry. Relying on the Hydrogen Industry Node, it takes the initiative to explore and build an internationally compatible bridge for carbon footprint accounting and equipment certification, promoting the coordinated, standardized and high-quality development of the global hydrogen energy industry.

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The 15th Five-Year Plan clearly proposes to adhere to the combination of policy guidance and market incentives, and steadily implement policy systems such as local carbon assessment, industrial carbon control, enterprise carbon management, project carbon evaluation, and product carbon footprint. The Government Work Report at this year's National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) requires improving the carbon emission statistics, accounting and carbon footprint management systems. Carbon Code is a digital and intelligent tool serving product carbon footprint management and identification certification. Relying on the national-level green exchange carbon accounting platform, the global identification code issuance platform of the China Academy of QR Code Technology, and the Chain Maker blockchain system, the Global Carbon Code Identification System builds a three-level architecture of global root node, industry node and enterprise node, realizing the digital management, tracking and circulation of carbon footprint-related information. Through the carbon code identification, the Global Carbon Code Hydrogen Industry Node can efficiently connect the carbon management of all links of "production-storage-transportation-application" in the hydrogen energy industry, realizing "one code for full tracing and seamless connection", and laying a solid foundation for the integrated development of the hydrogen and carbon markets.

Source:FuelCellChina