It is recommended that this region give priority to the construction of natural gas‑based hydrogen production facilities, provided that natural gas supply is secured.
Based on the carbon tax rate of 40 yuan per tonne proposed in the *Detailed Technical Report on the Study of Levying Carbon Tax in China* issued by the Ministry of Finance in 2009, the maximum affordable price for coal is approximately 500 yuan per tonne at the current natural gas price of 2.0 yuan per cubic meter.
In addition, the country is accelerating the integrated development of the Beijing‑Tianjin‑Hebei region. In March 2017, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the National Energy Administration, and the relevant provincial and municipal governments jointly issued the 《2017 Work Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control in the Beijing‑Tianjin‑Hebei Region and Surrounding Areas》.
This plan includes the “2+26” cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan in the air pollution transmission channel of the Beijing‑Tianjin‑Hebei region.
Among them, Beijing, Tianjin, Langfang and Baoding completed the construction of “coal‑free zones” by the end of October 2017.
Furthermore, other cities in the transmission channel completed 50,000 to 100,000 households of coal‑to‑gas or coal‑to‑electricity conversion projects by the end of October, in accordance with the principle of gas where suitable, electricity where suitable.
However, this region has diverse sources of natural gas resources. Beijing has already established four natural gas pipelines entering the city, with a fifth pipeline under construction. Tianjin and Shandong have built imported LNG terminals, and multiple coal‑to‑gas projects have been planned and constructed in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and other regions.
