Strengthening the Supply of Green Fuels and Jointly Building a Global Low-Carbon Ecosystem

August 27, 2026

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(China General Administration of Customs (Google translation) The global energy transition towards low carbon continues to deepen, with the application scenarios for green fuels such as green hydrogen ammonia and methanol, biodiesel, and sustainable aviation fuel constantly expanding. This provides solid industrial support for accelerating energy structure optimization, cultivating more green economic growth points, and strengthening the green foundation for high-quality development. Based on its functions, the Customs has comprehensively utilized multiple measures to continuously exert efforts in cost reduction and efficiency improvement, quality control, and regulatory innovation, helping the green fuel industry strengthen its internal capabilities and expand its market, thus contributing Chinese strength to the global green and low-carbon energy transition.

To reduce costs and increase efficiency for industrial development

From waste animal and vegetable oils to clean biodiesel that meets EU standards, the "green magic" of turning waste into treasure is unfolding continuously in Fenghua, Ningbo. Ningbo Jason Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is the protagonist of this "green magic."

In their production and operations, the company discovered that the prices of raw materials such as acidified vegetable oil and palm oil fatty acids in Indonesia and Malaysia were lower than in China. Importing these low-priced raw materials, processing them, and then exporting them could effectively reduce raw material costs. After careful consideration, the company decided to engage in processing trade. However, processing trade has strict regulatory requirements. "We had absolutely no idea how to manage bonded materials, set up ledgers, verify manuals..." admitted Zhou Zhijie, business manager of Ningbo Jason Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

After understanding the difficulties faced by enterprises, Fenghua Customs, under the Ningbo Customs, relied on the "Fengxiangbiao" service brand under the "Pro-Business and Clean Government Expressway - Enterprise Needs, Customs Response" mechanism to conduct multiple in-depth "one-on-one" guidance sessions for enterprises. From policy interpretation to practical guidance, they helped enterprises standardize the entire process management of processing trade. With compliance issues resolved, the path to cost reduction became clear. Since engaging in processing trade, Ningbo Jason Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd.'s annual output value has steadily increased from 50 million yuan to a peak of 400 million yuan.

With continuously increasing production capacity, the existing finished product storage space in the factory area is becoming increasingly strained. Building new storage tanks and expanding the factory area would require an investment of tens of millions of yuan, significantly increasing the company's cost pressure. After conducting on-site research, Fenghua Customs guided the company to develop outsourced storage services, utilizing existing bonded oil tanks at Ningbo Daxie Wharf to store finished biofuel oil. This eliminates the need for self-built storage tanks and makes export loading more convenient, leading to a reduction in both the company's warehousing and logistics costs.

Processing trade empowerment and bonded outsourcing storage have opened up cost reduction paths for green energy companies in the production and distribution process. In the hydrogen energy sector, customs tax policy research also targets industry pain points, using tariff policy adjustments as a lever to alleviate cost pressures for the research and development and production of key new materials.

Hydrogen fuel cells are the core carrier for the practical application of green hydrogen fuels. With their advantages of zero emissions and high energy density, they are becoming an important technological support for the low-carbon transformation of the transportation sector. The gas diffusion layer, only a few hundred micrometers thick, is the "breathing system" of the hydrogen fuel cell, responsible for uniformly delivering hydrogen and oxygen to the reaction core. It is a key material that determines the performance and lifespan of the fuel cell stack.

“Our research revealed that, due to limitations in the preparation processes and consistency of key materials, the gas diffusion layer still heavily relies on imports. The 17% import tariff has inadvertently increased the R&D and production costs for enterprises,” explained Yang Feiyun, Deputy Chief of the Tariff Section at the Wuxi Customs Office in Xinwu District, Nanjing Customs. Addressing these pain points in industry development, Wuxi Customs, leveraging its “Feiyun Online” service brand, closely connected with enterprises, verified industry data, conducted professional assessments, and formally submitted a tax reduction proposal through tax policy research channels. In 2024, the proposal to lower the provisional import tariff rate for gas diffusion layers to 9% was formally adopted by the State Council Tariff Commission.

The policy benefits have directly translated into the confidence of enterprises in tackling key R&D challenges. "We are mainly engaged in the R&D, production, and industrial application of hydrogen fuel cell systems and core components. After the implementation of the new tax rate, we expect to reduce taxes by 3 million yuan annually. As the demand for hydrogen fuel continues to rise, this benefit will increase year by year," said Song Xiaoyi, Customs and Tax Manager of Wuxi Bosch Power Systems Co., Ltd. He added that the saved costs are being invested more heavily in breakthroughs in core technologies.

Next, Wuxi Customs will continue to monitor the development of the hydrogen energy industry and plans to submit more suggestions for tax reduction on key materials, so as to continue to reduce the burden on the green fuel industry through tax policy.

Safeguarding the export of products

Recently, under the supervision of Dongying Customs, a branch of Jinan Customs, a batch of 4,233 tons of hydrocarbon-based biodiesel declared by Shandong Huidong New Energy Co., Ltd. was successfully shipped to Belgium. Hydrocarbon-based biodiesel is a second-generation advanced biofuel, made from renewable resources such as vegetable oils, animal fats, or waste oils through processes such as hydrodeoxygenation. Its carbon emissions over its entire life cycle are more than 80% lower than traditional diesel, and it can be widely used in transportation, shipping, and construction machinery. Against the backdrop of global low-carbon emission reduction, hydrocarbon-based biodiesel is becoming a popular choice in the fuel sector.

"Currently, our company has established a complete industrial chain system encompassing raw material recycling, technology research and development, production and manufacturing, storage, transportation and export. This year, we plan to process 100,000 tons of raw materials, which is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 250,000 tons, equivalent to planting 2 million trees," said Song Heshun, deputy director of the marketing department of Shandong Huidong New Energy Co., Ltd.

To ensure the healthy and orderly development of the hydrocarbon-based biodiesel export industry, Dongying Customs adheres to a combination of supervision and service, building a solid defense line for export quality and safety. In the inspection and supervision of hydrocarbon-based biodiesel exports, the customs office compares domestic industry standards and overseas target market access standards with the product information submitted by enterprises, verifying key physicochemical indicators such as product density, kinematic viscosity, and flash point item by item, strictly controlling product quality from the source.

"We strictly implement the local inspection requirements in accordance with the 'deployment instructions + operation guidelines,' accurately analyze and judge the hazardous characteristics of products based on their component content, and rigorously carry out on-site inspections and sampling for testing. At the same time, we continuously strengthen communication and coordination with laboratories to ensure accurate transmission of testing information and timely feedback of results, thereby ensuring the stability and safety of our products," said Zhang Tao, head of the Inspection Section 1 of Dongying Customs.

In the first seven months of 2026, Dongying Customs supervised the export of 23,000 tons of hydrocarbon-based biodiesel, boosting Dongying's foreign trade by nearly 280 million yuan.

As "gutter oil" leaves the underground flow and transforms into green power at 10,000 meters above the ground, a low-carbon reform of air travel is quietly taking shape. Recently, under the joint supervision of Zhangjiagang Customs and Jingang Customs, both subordinate to Nanjing Customs, a batch of 19,000 tons of bio-jet fuel was exported to the Netherlands after passing inspection.

Bio-jet fuel, or Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), is processed from renewable resources such as waste cooking oil. It is understood that the European Union has mandated that from 2025 onwards, all flights departing from EU airports must contain at least 2% SAF in their fuel mix. Against the backdrop of increasing global pressure to reduce carbon emissions in the aviation industry, SAF is transitioning from an "optional" to a "mandatory" requirement. However, as a "green power source" for carbon reduction in the aviation sector, SAF has stringent production standards and high quality requirements.

In response to stringent technical trade measures, Jingang Customs has established a special task force to provide door-to-door policy delivery services to manufacturing enterprises. Taking into account the high requirements for SAF impurities and contaminants control, the task force guides enterprises to improve their quality management systems and ensures the effective operation of key quality control points by referring to the access standards of the export destination countries.

At the port of entry, Zhangjiagang Customs has innovatively established the SAF (Self-Fulfilled Goods) supervision platform to achieve closed-loop management across the entire supply chain, closely track the actual flow of products, and strictly prevent various risks of violations such as abnormal conversion and processing of edible oil and "exporting" ordinary refined oil through unauthorized channels. In the first seven months of 2026, the export value of SAF products from Zhangjiagang City reached 1.969 billion yuan.

Opening up links for green voyages

Under the rigid constraints of the International Maritime Organization's emission reduction framework and the EU's shipping carbon tax and fuel regulations, ships on EU routes must meet strict life-cycle carbon emission reduction requirements, thereby driving the rapid growth in demand for green methanol in the field of marine green fuels.

Recently, at the Lvhuashan anchorage in Shanghai Port, the methanol bunkering vessel "Haigang Zhiyuan" bunkered 8,016 tons of domestically produced green methanol to the large methanol dual-fuel container ship "CMA CGM Osmium" in a single transaction, setting a new global record for the largest single bunkering volume of green methanol. With the support and guarantee of Shanghai Customs, since completing the first domestic green methanol bunkering transaction in April 2024, Shanghai Port has cumulatively completed 36,000 tons of green methanol fuel bunkering, ranking first among major ports worldwide.

In line with the development trend of the international shipping vessel fuel supply industry in Shanghai Port, Shanghai Customs has taken precise measures and proactively empowered the industry, introducing ten special facilitation supervision measures for international shipping vessel fuel supply, which comprehensively cover the entire process of ship fuel production, storage, logistics and ship refueling.

To effectively shorten the time ships spend in port, Shanghai Customs has built a digital and intelligent closed-loop supervision system. Relying on the port information system, it uses modern supervision methods such as AI video intelligent recognition and full electronic declaration and verification processes to create a digital and intelligent supervision closed loop for green fuel refueling and promote the normalization of green fuel refueling.

With its comprehensive hardware infrastructure, mature digital and intelligent regulatory system, and large-scale bunkering capabilities, Shanghai Port has become a benchmark port in China's green methanol ship supply sector. Meanwhile, Qingdao Port, a major shipping hub in northern China, is leveraging customs supervision innovation to continuously break through bottlenecks in the development of its local green methanol external supply system, gradually forming advantages in green fuel bunkering and contributing to the green and low-carbon transformation of shipping.

In recent years, relying on a series of regulatory innovations by Qingdao Customs, Qingdao Port has launched the nation's first "one ship, multiple supplies" green methanol ship-to-ship bunkering business, continuously enhancing Qingdao Port's attractiveness to international shipping vessels.

"We have innovatively constructed a fuel supervision system combining 'platform construction' and 'institutional innovation,' relying on the 'ShipEasyPass' ship supervision service platform and the Qingdao fuel oil intelligent supervision service platform to achieve paperless processing of the entire process of declaration, refueling, and verification. At the same time, we have established a cross-customs district collaborative supervision mechanism to further reduce the time for cross-customs district fuel supply," said Zhang Lin, deputy director of the Port Supervision Department of Huangdao Customs, a branch of Qingdao Customs.

Furthermore, in response to the operational needs of green methanol enterprises, Qingdao Customs has streamlined general trade export channels, achieving a closed-loop supply chain for green energy. Simultaneously, it has developed customized regulatory solutions for diverse operational scenarios such as skid-mounted bunkering, ship-to-ship bunkering, and multi-supply from a single vessel, improving port operational efficiency while strictly adhering to regulatory bottom lines.

Next, Qingdao Customs will continue to upgrade the functions of its digital platform, optimize the standardized supervision process for green fuel refueling, and deepen collaboration with ports, maritime authorities, and enterprises to solidify the foundation for Qingdao's green development as an international shipping center. READ MORE

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vegetable oils used cooking oil (UCO)/yellow grease Sustainability seaports regulations palm oil Netherlands Methanol/Biomethanol/Renewable Methanol markets/sales Marine/maritime renewable fuel terminal/bunkering Marine/Maritime Bio and Renewable/Sustainable Fuel (SMF) mandates Malaysia Jetfuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)) International Maritime Organization (IMO) Indonesia import/export Hydrogen/Renewable Hydrogen hydrogen fuel cells feedstock prices European Union (EU) European Emissions Trading System (ETS) dual-fuel/flex fuel ships China certification carbon tax Carbon Intensity (CI)/Carbon Footprint BioRefineries/Renewable Fuel Production biodiesel Belgium Aviation Fuel/Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) aviation fuel (SAF) mandates animal fat ammonia

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