Media Resources

11 Sep 2026

Towngas partners with PolyU to certify green fuels using blockchain technology

The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) signed a cooperation agreement at PolyU to jointly develop a blockchain-based management platform for green fuels and chemicals operations. The two parties aim to provide technical support for green value certification, full lifecycle traceability, and market applications, promoting the sustainable development of related industries.

The collaboration combines PolyU’s research strengths in blockchain technology, data science, and digital innovation with Towngas’s practical experience across the green fuels and chemicals value chain. Together, the two parties will establish a secure, trusted, and traceable green value management system to provide innovative solutions for the industry.

As the global energy transition continues to advance, demand for green fuels and chemical products continues to rise. However, this emerging industry still faces challenges in verifying green attributes, ensuring document authenticity, tracing supply chains, and quantifying green value. Blockchain technology is ideally suited to address these pain points. Features such as data immutability once on-chain and end-to-end traceability ensure that data is open, transparent, and credible, establishing digital infrastructure for the green industry.

Under the agreement, the blockchain platform will first be deployed within the green fuels and chemicals operations of VENEX, a subsidiary of the Towngas Group, and put into service at its production facilities in Inner Mongolia and Foshan. The system will cover feedstock procurement, production operations, product certification, logistics, and end-use applications, achieving full-process data recording to ensure that information is authentic and reliable.

The platform is expected to:
• Establish digital identities and electronic certification mechanisms for green fuels and chemical products;
• Achieve full-process traceability management across the supply chain;
• Prevent alteration or forgery of certificates, inspection reports, and related documents;
• Enhance international market recognition of green product certification results;
• Quantify and demonstrate the environmental value created by green products;
• Provide a digital foundation for future green product trading, green value circulation, and green finance development.

Mr Sham Man-fai, Group Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer – Green Fuels and Chemicals of Towngas, said: "Green value is increasingly becoming an important asset in driving energy transition and industrial upgrading. As the green fuels and chemicals industry develops rapidly, demand for transparency, authenticity, and international recognition continues to grow. We hope that through our collaboration with PolyU, leveraging blockchain technology to establish a trusted green value system, green attributes can be accurately recorded, effectively verified, and fully reflect their market value, thereby further driving the high-quality development of the industry."

Professor Zheng Zijian, Vice President (Knowledge Transfer) of PolyU, stated: “PolyU is committed to nurturing professionals with a sense of national pride, a global perspective, and a strong sense of social responsibility, while supporting major national strategic needs. We hope this project will yield outcomes of both academic value and practical significance. Furthermore, we hope it will serve as a starting point for deepened cooperation between PolyU and Towngas in the fields of green energy, digital trust, and sustainable transformation.”

Professor George Q. Huang, Director of the Research Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Chair Professor of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at PolyU, stated: “This project is a crucial practical implementation of the ‘Cyber-Physical Internet’ in the field of manufacturing and logistics tracking and traceability—a project under the Theme-based Research Scheme funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. It also marks an important milestone in the translating scientific research achievements and generating industrial impact. This collaboration will fully leverage PolyU’s scientific research capabilities and Towngas’s industrial resources to jointly explore new models of digital management in the green fuels and chemicals sector, thereby promoting the transformation and industrial application of innovative technological achievements.”

Professor Zhao Zhiheng, Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at PolyU, introduced the main solutions and technical roadmap of the project. He stated that blockchain technology has immense potential in enhancing data credibility and driving sustainable development, and also provides an important exploratory opportunity for the application of spatiotemporal intelligence in the industrial sector. Moving forward, the team will fully utilise its research and development advantages to promote close collaboration with the industry.

As one of Towngas’s key initiatives in advancing green energy development, this collaboration will not only support the growth of VENEX’s green fuels and chemicals business but also establish a demonstrative model for digital green value management, providing the industry with an innovative practical case that can be replicated and scaled.

Looking ahead, both parties plan to further study standards for green value certification, digital traceability mechanisms, and green asset management models. They will also actively promote cooperation with supply chain partners, certification bodies, and the international market to jointly build a more comprehensive, transparent, and credible ecosystem for green fuels and chemicals.

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Press photos:

Photo 1:

Mr Sham Man-fai (right), Group Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer – Green Fuels and Chemicals of Towngas, and Professor Zheng Zijian (left), Vice President (Knowledge Transfer) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), sign a cooperation agreement, announcing the joint development of a blockchain management platform to establish a full lifecycle traceability and trusted certification system for green fuels and chemical products.

Photo 2:

Mr Sham Man-fai, Group Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer – Green Fuels and Chemicals of Towngas, highlights that green value is at the core of the energy transition, expressing his expectation that partnering with PolyU will leverage blockchain technology to ensure the transparency and credibility of green attributes and accurately reflect their market value.

Photo 3:

Professor Zheng Zijian, Vice President (Knowledge Transfer) of PolyU, emphasises the University's commitment to supporting major national strategic needs, hoping that the project yields both academic and practical value while serving as a starting point to deepen bilateral co-operation in green transformation and digital trust.