In September 2026, after 12 years, China will once again host the APEC Energy Ministerial Series meetings. The conference included the development of hydrogen energy in the Joint Statement of the 2026 APEC Energy Ministers' Meeting and proposed to jointly build an inclusive, innovative, and collaborative Asia Pacific energy community. According to the report released by the Hydrogen Energy Branch of the China Association for the Promotion of Industrial Development in March 2026, the global hydrogen production will be about 110 million tons by 2025, and the green hydrogen production capacity will be about 500000 tons per year. China's electrolytic cell installation facilities will account for more than 50% of the global green hydrogen production capacity. The global hydrogen energy industry's focus is shifting from European and American research and development policies to Asian manufacturing and large-scale applications.

The consensus leading mechanism needs to be supplemented

Zhang Yu, Vice Chairman and Executive Vice Chairman of the Hydrogen Energy Branch, stated at the seminar that although China has become an important pole in the global hydrogen energy manufacturing, engineering, and project sectors, it still does not have a dominant position in terms of rules, certification, and trade. The core proposition of Asia Pacific hydrogen energy collaboration is no longer whether there are projects, but who defines green, who builds cross-border corridors, who takes long-term procurement, and who settles industrial practices into regional systems. The real challenge is first reflected in the lag in mechanism construction, where different carbon accounting boundaries lead to duplicate accounting by enterprises, and the same ship of green hydrogen exports to major economies such as Japan, South Korea, and Singapore requires different accounting and voucher systems. The infrastructure has nodes that have not formed a network, and there is a lack of purchasing mechanisms. The price of green hydrogen is about 2 to 3 times that of gray hydrogen, which is difficult for end customers to afford. Insufficient overseas collaboration among enterprises, low price competition, and scattered certification paths still exist.

Four Power Path Conversion Capability

The focus of China's plan should be to transform the hard power of the industry into the discourse power of the rules. In terms of standard rights, relying on the APEC standard toolkit under the ISO and IEC frameworks, we will promote the integration of China's three-level hydrogen classification, green hydrogen, green ammonia, and green alcohol certification with the practices of Asia Pacific economies. In terms of corridor rights, starting from ports and shipping fuels, with Yangshan in Shanghai, Yangpu in Hainan, and Zhuhai in Guangdong as pivot points, connecting with Busan in South Korea, Jurong in Singapore, and Newcastle in Australia, priority is given to ship refueling and transit storage and transportation of green hydrogen, green alcohol, and green methanol. In terms of market power, domestic enterprises in the chemical, metallurgical, shipping, power generation and other fields can jointly build the Asia Pacific Green Hydrogen Procurement Pool. In terms of organizational rights, industry organizations can explore the establishment of a dynamic database for the Asia Pacific Green Hydrogen Project database, including a list of purchasers and a certified risk list. Keywords: Strategic News Network, Hydrogen Energy, International, Product Going Global, Rule Building

From product going global to rule building

From the perspective of industrial practice, the pragmatic cooperation of mutual benefit and win-win among enterprises has formed a multi-level pattern in the Asia Pacific region. In September 2025, Hylium of South Korea and Guofu Hydrogen Energy will establish a joint venture, forming a collaborative chain of Chinese resources, Korean technology, and the Korean market. In 2026, the first batch of green ammonia from Far East Energy and Power Investment Green Energy will be delivered to Korean companies. Chinese and Korean companies are gradually establishing long-term procurement and supply mechanisms using green hydrogen based energy products such as green ammonia and green methanol as carriers. China will transform its manufacturing advantages into regulatory capabilities, promote mutual recognition of green attributes, connectivity of port corridors, backup procurement mechanisms, and industry organization formations. The Asia Pacific region is expected to form a hydrogen energy governance framework that is financing, verifiable, and replicable.Editor/Gao Xue