China is reshaping the global competitiveness of green hydrogen and green molecules, positioning itself as the world’s only fully integrated hydrogen economy even if it remains widely misunderstood. Speaking at gasworld’s Asia-Pacific Industrial Gas Conference 2025, Yuki Yu of Hong Kong-based consultancy Energy Iceberg outlined China’s evolving green hydrogen landscape and highlighted the numbers underpinning its rapid rise.

Yu said, Energy Iceberg’s research shows that China now has more than 900 green hydrogen projects in development with roughly 650 actively progressing. The ecosystem also includes more than 200 electrolyser OEMs and over 320 project developers. In parallel, more than 100 electrofuels projects are underway. She said China’s strength stems from a combination of vast low-cost renewable resources world-leading electrotechnology advanced manufacturing capability and a large domestic demand base across petrochemicals chemicals metallurgy and building materials.

“China is changing the landscape in green molecules,” said Yu. “This is underpinned by the largest and cheapest renewables resources by world-leading electrotech and manufacturing capability and by the largest demand side as well.”

Offtake uncertainty and delayed timelines

Yu noted that while China’s green hydrogen sector has achieved a certain level of maturity and industrial demand exists a major gap remains in offtake agreements. Downstream offtake is essential for delivering China’s green hydrogen and green fuels ambitions yet progress has not matched expectations. Domestic policies can stimulate some demand but execution continues to face challenges. She said hoped-for international market pull from Europe and the United States has not materialised at the scale expected.

According to Yu, stronger policy signals or significant cost reductions are needed before green hydrogen and green fuels can scale meaningfully. Some new state-level incentives within China may accelerate uptake in heavy industries and emerging decarbonisation technologies but the broader concern is that global demand remains weaker than anticipated.

Yu said, a tipping point for China’s green hydrogen sector is still ahead. Timelines for large-scale delivery have now shifted likely towards 2040 rather than earlier projections. For the wider Asia-Pacific region this delay suggests a need to rethink strategies and expectations around green hydrogen and how best to approach the emerging opportunity.

Source: 

https://www.gasworld.com/story/apac-ig-2025-chinese-green-hydrogen-is-mature-now-but-questions-remain/2169452.article/