Developing China's hydrogen and fuel cell industry is the main pillar of a plan being drafted by the government to help build the technology necessary to deliver net-zero emissions. The proposals would cover the period of the 14th five-year plan through 2025, Li Ye, an official at the National Energy Administration, said at a conference at the Clean Energy Expo in Beijing on Wednesday. Li didn't say when the energy technology plan would be released. Hydrogen is widely viewed as vital to China's decarbonization program, although the government is yet to detail how much development could cost, or how it'll help fund or otherwise support the sector. The European Union has said its investment in the fuel could top $500 billion by 2030. The output value of China's hydrogen industry is forecast at 1 trillion yuan ($154 billion) in five years time and could hit 12 times that by 2050, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, based on China Hydrogen Alliance projections. It would put the gas at 10% of China's energy mix in the decade prior to President's Xi Jinping's 2060 deadline for a carbon neutral economy.
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