As a clean and efficient secondary energy, hydrogen energy is of great significance for energy transition and carbon neutrality. However, hydrogen development faces big challenges of high cost, unclean in production process, insecurity in transportation and storage etc. This paper tries to build a theoretical framework of hydrogen supply chain which contains whole life cycle of production, transportation, storage, utilization, and recycle of end use. Our study shows that a complete and mature hydrogen energy supply chain can enlarge the scale of hydrogen production and reduce the cost, improve its efficient and safety, and obtain a stable, sustainable, and zero-emission energy system. At the same time, a sound hydrogen energy supply chain also plays an important role in ensuring energy security and a bridge for the transition from fossil energy to renewable energy and these will help to reduce CO2 emissions, promote carbon peaking and neutrality through energy technological innovation and rapid energy transition.
Sun et al. (2025) studied this question.