Objective The role and development path of China's hydrogen energy industry in achieving the strategic goal of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" is explored in-depth.

Methods The current state of domestic and international hydrogen energy industry development is analyzed, and based on the perspective of industrial chain stability, the hydrogen energy industry practices in the Sichuan-Chongqing region are examined.

Results Provinces and cities are actively planning and implementing hydrogen energy development plans, with a commitment to covering the entire industry chain, emphasizing the integration and innovation of technologies, and promoting the synergistic growth of the industry. In the short term, hydrogen energy applications will focus on the field of fuel cell vehicles, while in the medium to long term, expand to diverse scenarios such as distributed power generation and combined heat and power. Local governments support the hydrogen energy industry through subsidies and incentive policies. Subsidies focus on the promotion of fuel cell vehicles and the construction and operation of hydrogen refueling stations, while incentive policies follow a "reward instead of subsidy" approach. In many regions, local hydrogen energy infrastructure approval methods have already been formulated, relaxing the construction requirements for hydrogen production and refueling projects.

Conclusions It is imperative to strengthen policy guarantees and improve the system, establish a cross-departmental coordination mechanism for the hydrogen energy industry, formulate top-level policies at the national level and explore regulatory sandbox systems. Breaking through the bottlenecks in the industry's development, clarifying hydrogen gas safety management and attribute definitions, relaxing land management, and establishing dedicated hydrogen energy management institutions are crucial steps. Embracing an adaptive strategy tailored to local conditions, avoiding policy homogeneity, and strengthening local characteristics and top-level design are essential. Emphasis should be placed on expanding hydrogen energy application scenarios in the transportation sector and using demonstration projects to drive widespread application. Accelerating the construction of a nationwide hydrogen energy infrastructure network is vital to support industry development.