China leads hydrogen development with outstanding deployment, ecosystem: experts

BRUSSELS - International experts highlighted China's advances in hydrogen energy during the ongoing 2025 European Hydrogen Week in Brussels, noting its strong deployment and well-developed industrial ecosystem.

As Europe's leading hydrogen event, the European Hydrogen Week featurs high-level policy conferences, B2B forums, and innovation forums focusing on hydrogen industry development and policies.

China has effectively adopted a staged approach to applying hydrogen energy in passenger vehicles, Erwin Penfornis, vice president of Air Liquide's global hydrogen energy business line, said at a B2B forum titled "Hydrogen Markets in Motion: Europe, United States, China, India and the Global Race to Scale-Up."

The approach has allowed China to test new technologies and foster sufficient competition, ultimately leading to the most effective solutions for hydrogen energy production and application in the country, he said.

According to statistics from Hydrogen Europe, China ranks first worldwide in committed hydrogen investment by 2030 and accounts for the majority of hydrogen production both in Asia and globally.

In 2022, data from a plan released by Chinese authorities for the development of hydrogen energy from 2021 to 2035 showed that China's annual hydrogen output had reached around 33 million tonnes.

"China has world-class electrolyzers (the key component for producing hydrogen) which are highly competitive with those made in Europe," said Khaled Nageib, CEO of Egypt Hydrogen, adding that Egypt has cooperated extensively with Chinese manufacturers because of their reputation for high quality and reasonable prices.

"Another advantage of China's hydrogen industry, as well as other green sectors, is the smooth transition between higher education, research institutes, and industry," he noted, adding that close collaboration between academia and businesses enables China to accelerate technological upgrades.

According to Willem-Jeroen Stevens, managing partner of a financial services company Clear in the Netherlands, hydrogen development in China advances through an industrial "valley" model, meaning that a complete supply chain thrives within a connected city or region, reducing costs and improving the efficiency of research and production.

China's plan aims to establish a well-organized industrial layout and promote the widespread use of hydrogen production from renewable sources by 2030, providing robust support for achieving its carbon peaking goals.

Eugene McKenna, senior vice president of Hydrogen & Sustainable Technologies at Johnson Matthey, encouraged more Europeans to visit China and see the situation firsthand.

"I would really recommend going to China because it feels like a test case for how to do strategy and how to do execution," he said.