China has officially released the Measures for the Comprehensive Evaluation and Assessment of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality, a landmark policy document jointly issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, and approved by the Political Bureau Standing Committee on February 26, 2026.

Effective from 2026, the Measures establish a rigorous national evaluation framework to drive provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in delivering carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. The assessment is built around control indicators—including carbon emissions, intensity reduction, coal and oil consumption, and the share of non-fossil energy—and supporting indicators spanning industry, transportation, energy conservation, and carbon trading.

For the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), China targets:

• A 65%+ cut in carbon emission intensity by 2030 (vs. 2005);
• 25% non-fossil energy share by 2030;
• Peaking coal and oil consumption;
• Replacing incremental electricity demand primarily with clean energy.

While hydrogen is not explicitly named in the Measures, the push for non-fossil energy scaling, renewable energy power generation, and deep industrial decarbonization strongly aligns with national strategies to develop green hydrogen, hydrogen for heavy industry and transport, and hydrogen as a key clean energy carrier. Provinces are required to advance low-carbon industrial transformation and phase out high-emission capacity—key enablers for hydrogen adoption across sectors.

The system also mandates a shift from energy consumption dual control to carbon emission dual control, creating favorable conditions for green hydrogen produced via renewables to replace fossil fuels in hard-to-abate sectors. Assessment results will directly influence official performance evaluations, accelerating local policy support for clean hydrogen infrastructure, hydrogen-enabled transport, and industrial hydrogen applications.

Source: FuelCellChina