According to a recent announcement, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission have jointly issued the Management Measures for the Hydrogen Energy Comprehensive Application Pilot Program, effective from the date of issuance.
The Management Measures stipulate that city clusters should, in accordance with the approved pilot work plans, coordinate the advancement of pilot work and efficiently organize the implementation of four task lists: hydrogen technology and equipment research, hydrogen projects in the industrial sector, fuel cell vehicle promotion, and hydrogen refueling station construction.
To implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, drive cost reduction through multi-scenario large-scale application, and facilitate breakthroughs in hydrogen technology and equipment innovation, the three ministries issued a notice in August this year agreeing in principle to 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 Jizi Bend—Central Plains. The pilot program will run for four years.
The Management Measures apply to the organization and implementation, assessment and evaluation, credit calculation, and fund and project supervision and management activities of the hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot program, aiming to strengthen the management of pilot work and improve the efficiency of fiscal fund utilization.
Next, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will work with relevant departments to provide process guidance for the pilot, conduct performance evaluations of central fiscal reward funds, supervise city clusters in organizing and implementing the pilot, managing funds and projects, and regularly organize summaries of pilot outcomes and promote pilot experience.
Management Measures for the Hydrogen Energy Comprehensive Application Pilot Program
Chapter 1: General Provisions
Article 1: These Measures are formulated to strengthen the management of the hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot program and improve the efficiency of fiscal fund utilization, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and the Notice of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, and National Development and Reform Commission on Launching the Hydrogen Energy Comprehensive Application Pilot Program (MIIT Joint Energy Conservation [2026] No. 59) and other relevant policy documents.
Article 2: These Measures apply to the organization and implementation, assessment and evaluation, credit calculation, and fund and project supervision and management activities of the hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot program.
Article 3: The hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot program is jointly organized and implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission (hereinafter collectively referred to as the three ministries). The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is responsible for organizing city cluster assessment and evaluation, reward credit calculation, and fund application, proposing annual fund allocation recommendations and performance targets; working with relevant departments to provide process guidance for the pilot and conduct performance evaluations of central fiscal reward funds, and supervising city clusters in organizing and implementing the pilot and managing funds and projects. It will work with the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission to regularly organize summaries of pilot outcomes and promote pilot experience. The Ministry of Finance will issue central fiscal reward fund budgets based on the annual fund arrangement recommendations proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, with annual performance target tables issued together with the fund budget documents. The provincial-level industry and information technology, finance, and development and reform departments where each pilot city is located (hereinafter collectively referred to as provincial-level competent departments) are responsible for organizing and coordinating the pilot, proposing internal supervision and assessment systems and penalty measures for city clusters, creating a favorable policy and institutional environment, and supervising the effective implementation of pilot work.
Article 4: The lead city of each city cluster is responsible for coordinating the advancement of all pilot work within the cluster, regularly summarizing pilot work progress, and compiling the cluster's self-assessment report. The primary responsibility cities are responsible for advancing their assigned pilot tasks and cooperating with the lead city in coordinating and summarizing pilot work. Cities participating in pilot tasks are responsible for efficiently advancing relevant pilot tasks.
Chapter 2: Organization and Implementation
Article 5: City clusters shall, in accordance with the pilot work plans approved by the three ministries, coordinate the advancement of pilot work.
Article 6: The pilot work plans approved by the three ministries shall not be arbitrarily changed. If changes are truly necessary, the lead city shall submit a change application, which shall be approved by the provincial-level competent department where the lead city is located before being submitted to the three ministries for review and approval. The change application shall elaborate in detail on the reasons and necessity for the change.
Article 7: City clusters shall efficiently organize the implementation of four task lists: hydrogen technology and equipment research, hydrogen projects in the industrial sector, fuel cell vehicle promotion, and hydrogen refueling station construction.
Article 8: City clusters shall increase support for advanced technology research and application, promote breakthroughs in hydrogen application technology, processes, and equipment innovation, and achieve iterative upgrades in fuel cells, electrolyzers, storage and transportation devices and materials.
Article 9: City clusters shall organize the connection of hydrogen energy comprehensive application products, equipment, and projects — including fuel cell vehicles, green ammonia and methanol, hydrogen-based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, hydrogen blending combustion, and innovative application scenarios — within their cluster to the Hydrogen Energy Comprehensive Application Pilot Management Service Platform (hereinafter referred to as the "Management Service Platform"), and upload relevant basic information and operational data in accordance with corresponding specifications. Uploaded content includes operational data related to reward fund calculation such as vehicle hydrogen refueling volume, industrial project hydrogen usage, vehicle pure hydrogen driving mileage, as well as corresponding test reports for indicators related to technical requirement compliance.
Article 10: Each pilot city shall regularly verify the information and data uploaded by enterprises to ensure the completeness, authenticity, and accuracy of relevant data.
Chapter 3: Assessment and Evaluation
Article 11: After the end of each year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with relevant departments, shall conduct assessment and evaluation of each city cluster's pilot work for the previous year and the overall pilot situation. The evaluation focuses on the following:
(1) The completion status, problems faced, and improvement measures of pilot tasks including technology and equipment research, industrial sector hydrogen application projects, fuel cell vehicle promotion and application, and hydrogen refueling station construction for the city cluster as a whole and each pilot city;
(2) The implementation status of organizational, policy, funding, safety and emergency support measures promoted by the city cluster for pilot work, and the management of reward funds;
(3) The economic, social, and ecological benefits generated by the city cluster's pilot work;
(4) Other circumstances requiring evaluation.
Article 12: The lead city of each city cluster shall, within 30 days after the end of each year, organize all pilot cities within the cluster to compile self-assessment reports in accordance with requirements (see Annex 1) and submit them to the three ministries. Where multiple primary responsibility cities are involved, each primary responsibility city shall coordinate with relevant pilot participating cities to jointly review the completion status of corresponding primary responsibility tasks and consolidate them to the lead city.
Article 13: The self-assessment report of each city cluster shall be approved by the provincial-level competent department where the lead city is located before being submitted to the three ministries through the Management Service Platform.
Article 14: Each pilot city bears primary responsibility for the completeness, authenticity, and accuracy of the content of the self-assessment report submitted.
Article 15: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with relevant departments, shall commission third-party institutions to conduct assessment and evaluation of city cluster task target completion through document review, on-site inspection, expert review, and other methods, combined with relevant Management Service Platform data, and issue city cluster assessment and evaluation reports.
Article 16: Assessment and evaluation can be divided into three types based on pilot work progress: annual evaluation, mid-term evaluation, and acceptance evaluation.
Article 17: Assessment and evaluation results shall be quantified into comprehensive scores according to relevant standards (see Annex 2). If a city cluster's comprehensive score is below 60 points, the city cluster shall be deemed to have failed the assessment and evaluation.
Chapter 4: Credit Calculation
Article 18: After the end of each year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with relevant departments, shall commission third-party institutions to organize experts to conduct corresponding annual reward credit calculation for city clusters in accordance with relevant credit calculation standard requirements, forming reward credit verification tables for each city cluster.
Article 19: For fuel cell vehicle scenarios, vehicle promotion credits shall be calculated based on the number of vehicles promoted and applied in the city cluster and relevant information, with reference to fuel cell standard vehicle conversion methods, standard vehicle reward credit standards, and corresponding vehicle reward coefficients. Hydrogen supply credits shall be calculated based on actual clean low-carbon hydrogen refueling volume for vehicles, hydrogen type, and hydrogen refueling station location.
Article 20: For green ammonia and methanol, hydrogen-based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, and hydrogen blending combustion scenarios, reward credits shall be calculated based on clean low-carbon hydrogen application scale. Hydrogen usage shall correspond to the actual sales situation of downstream products. Hydrogen usage corresponding to downstream products that have only completed production but not actual sales shall not be calculated; calculation may be applied for after actual sales are completed.
Article 21: For innovative application scenarios including hydrogen-powered rail locomotives, ships, mining trucks, forklifts, two-wheelers, aircraft, backup power supplies, combined heat and power, and hydrogen energy storage power generation, reward credits shall be calculated based on the number of products promoted and applied and the rated power of fuel cell systems (or hydrogen internal combustion engines, hydrogen turbines, etc.). For scenarios such as electronics and pharmaceuticals, reward credits shall be calculated based on the scale of renewable hydrogen production application; hydrogen usage shall correspond to the actual sales situation of end products.
Article 22: For fuel cell vehicles, green ammonia and methanol, hydrogen-based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, hydrogen blending combustion, and innovative application scenario end product application situations or hydrogen usage scales declared by city clusters for reward credits, corresponding end products and projects shall comply with relevant technical requirements of the Notice, and all related products are required to be produced, sold, and used domestically. Those not complying shall not be granted reward credits.
Article 23: Where a city cluster's annual vehicle promotion, hydrogen usage scale, etc. exceed the current year's plan in the pilot work plan, the excess portion may be calculated in the following year.
Chapter 5: Fund Management
Article 24: Central finance shall adopt a "pre-allocation first, settlement later" approach for disbursing reward funds. After city clusters receive approval, central finance shall pre-allocate a certain proportion of reward funds to each city cluster to support the launch of hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot work.
Article 25: After the end of each year, the three ministries shall confirm the reward fund amount for each city cluster based on assessment and evaluation and reward credit verification results. For city clusters that fail assessment and evaluation, disbursement of current year reward funds shall be suspended; for city clusters that pass assessment and evaluation but have not completed all annual pilot tasks, a certain proportion of reward funds may be reduced as appropriate.
Article 26: After the pilot ends, the three ministries shall settle reward funds for city clusters on the principle of refunding excess and supplementing shortfalls. During the pilot implementation period, the cumulative central fiscal reward funds obtained by a city cluster shall not exceed 1.6 billion yuan.
(1) Where funds need to be reduced due to incomplete pilot tasks, the difference between disbursed funds and entitled funds shall be returned;
(2) Funds reduced or suspended in the first three years due to slow progress may be supplemented as appropriate based on acceptance results;
(3) Where acceptance evaluation is failed, fourth-year reward funds shall not be disbursed, and partial or full return of disbursed funds may be ordered as appropriate.
Article 27: Reward funds shall be used by city clusters in conjunction with work plans for carrying out hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot work. Each city cluster shall fully leverage the effectiveness of reward funds to reduce hydrogen usage costs and effectively transmit this to the end product consumption segment.
Article 28: Before the pre-allocation of funds and each annual reward fund disbursement, city clusters shall compile reward fund application documents, specify the reward fund allocation plan for each pilot city, simultaneously compile performance targets (see Annex 3), and submit them to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as required. The fund allocation plan shall in principle be proposed by the lead city, shall objectively and truthfully reflect the task completion status of each pilot city during the pilot process, effectively leverage the supportive and guiding role of central fiscal funds, and improve fund utilization efficiency.
Article 29: After central fiscal reward funds are issued, city clusters shall disburse funds to relevant participating entities as soon as possible. Local self-raised funds shall be linked with central fiscal funds and issued together with central fiscal funds. Each pilot city and its provincial-level competent department shall properly supervise fund disbursement, formulate reward fund disbursement plans and management rules based on local actual conditions, specify reward fund allocation methods, support standards, and usage methods for local self-raised funds, and file them with the three ministries through the Management Service Platform.
Article 30: If pilot cities and their provincial-level competent departments fail to disburse central reward funds and local self-raised funds in a timely manner, suspension of further reward fund disbursement to the corresponding city cluster or pilot city may be studied as appropriate; after funds at all levels are disbursed in place, the three ministries may study subsequent reward fund disbursement plans as appropriate.
Article 31: City clusters shall use central fiscal funds in accordance with budget management regulations, ensure reward funds are used exclusively for designated purposes and under special management, and conduct transfer payment fund performance self-evaluation as required by relevant documents, focusing on evaluating reward fund execution and performance target completion, to improve fund utilization efficiency.
Article 32: Reward funds shall not be used to balance budgets, repay government debt, or clear overdue enterprise accounts. Projects or products in the hydrogen application segment that have already received support from ultra-long-term special government bonds, central budget investment, government special bonds, or other funds shall not be included in the scope of reward fund support under this pilot program.
Article 33: Each city cluster shall establish a reward fund execution ledger, evaluate fund usage annually against performance targets, promptly summarize and analyze existing problems and causes, incorporate relevant content into self-assessment reports, and submit them to the three ministries.
Article 34: Local departments at all levels shall strengthen supervision and management of reward funds, shall not intercept or misappropriate reward funds, and if problems such as false fund applications, misappropriation, duplicate applications, or fraudulent reimbursement are discovered, shall promptly report to the three ministries.
Chapter 6: Project Supervision
Article 35: The three ministries shall strengthen supervision and management of projects related to the hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot, and provide technical support for pilot cities in project construction, management, and evaluation.
Article 36: The three ministries shall commission third-party institutions to conduct pilot progress tracking and daily management, focusing on supervising the construction and commissioning progress of industrial projects, establishing a project progress notification mechanism, and issuing notifications for projects whose progress falls short of expectations.
Article 37: The three ministries shall establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism for city clusters. For those that fail mid-term evaluation or fail evaluation for two consecutive years, the following measures may be taken as appropriate:
(1) Require adjustment of work plans;
(2) Deduct or suspend disbursement of reward funds;
(3) Suspend or even cancel qualification to participate in city pilot.
Article 38: If the lead city of a city cluster cannot submit materials such as the city cluster self-assessment report, reward fund allocation plan, and performance targets on time, other primary responsibility cities within the cluster may separately submit materials related to their assigned pilot tasks and explain the situation in detail.
Article 39: If a city cluster experiences any of the following circumstances, the three ministries shall take corresponding actions as appropriate, including issuing notices of criticism, requiring adjustment of pilot work plans, deducting reward credits, deducting or suspending disbursement of reward funds, and suspending or even canceling qualification to participate in city pilot:
(1) Failing mid-term evaluation or failing evaluation for two consecutive years;
(2) Engaging in fraud, violating regulations, or submitting seriously false materials;
(3) Providing insufficient supporting materials such that pilot work progress and reward fund usage cannot be determined;
(4) Setting up or disguised obstacles to restrict the procurement or sale of equipment, raw materials, products, etc. from outside the city cluster;
(5) Pilot work progress being seriously delayed, making it impossible to complete tasks, or falling far short of pilot targets;
(6) Misappropriating or occupying central fiscal funds, or duplicate application for central fiscal fund support, or using reward funds in areas prohibited by these Measures;
(7) Occurrence of relatively major or above production safety accidents, sudden environmental incidents, environmental pollution accidents, or ecological damage incidents.
Article 40: Where local governments and relevant departments violate these Measures in fund allocation, disbursement, and management, or engage in other illegal and irregular acts such as abuse of power, dereliction of duty, or favoritism, corresponding responsibilities shall be pursued in accordance with law. Where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with law. Where illegal and irregular acts occur in fund application and use, corresponding responsibilities shall be pursued in accordance with the Budget Law of the People's Republic of China and its implementation regulations, the Regulations on Penalties and Sanctions for Fiscal Violations, and other relevant national provisions. Where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with law.
Chapter 7: Supplementary Provisions
Article 41: These Measures shall be interpreted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission, and shall be optimized and adjusted based on the actual situation of city cluster pilot work.
Article 42: "City cluster" as referred to in these Measures means a city cluster that has received approval from the three ministries to implement a hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot work plan.
Article 43: The pilot implementation period referred to in these Measures shall be counted from the date of city cluster approval and shall last for four years.
Article 44: The meanings of the following terms in these Measures are:
(1) Renewable hydrogen production (also called "green hydrogen") refers to hydrogen mainly produced directly from renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind power. Industrial by-product hydrogen mainly includes hydrogen from coke oven gas, chlor-alkali tail gas industrial by-product hydrogen, propane dehydrogenation by-product hydrogen, ethane cracking dehydrogenation by-product hydrogen, etc.;
(2) Document review refers to examining self-assessment reports and related test reports and supporting materials provided by each city cluster;
(3) On-site inspection refers to selecting some products, equipment, or projects from fuel cell vehicles, green ammonia and methanol, hydrogen-based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, hydrogen blending combustion, and innovative application scenarios in each city cluster, and conducting on-site inspections of their production and operation, promotion and application, and technical indicators;
(4) Annual evaluation refers to the annual assessment of the city cluster's pilot work for the current year after the end of each year;
(5) Mid-term evaluation refers to the phased summary assessment of the city cluster's pilot work for the first two years after the end of the second year;
(6) Acceptance evaluation refers to the overall assessment of the city cluster's four-year pilot work after the end of the fourth year.
Article 45: "Day" as specified in these Measures refers to calendar days.
Article 46: These Measures shall take effect from the date of issuance.
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