This dataset is aimed at quantitative evaluation, spatial identification and regional utilization research of China's natural cold energy resources. It is constructed based on the daily average temperature data of China Meteorological Station from 1973 to 2024. The original data includes 798 meteorological stations, and 771 valid stations are retained after data integrity and long-term representativeness screening. Based on the daily average temperature data, basic indicators such as cold season duration (D0), freezing degree days (FDD), melting degree days (TDD), and effective freezing degree days (F−2) are calculated, and the cold season duration time factor (D), cool-heat balance ratio (TEMP), and freezing quality factor (F) are further constructed. On this basis, the Integrated Cold Quality and Balance Index (ICQBI) was established to characterize the comprehensive climate potential of regional natural cold energy resources. ICQBI adopts a multiplicative non-compensated structure that comprehensively considers the time availability of natural cooling energy, the year-round cold and heat balance characteristics, and the effective freezing quality. Among them, the cold season is defined as the period when the daily average temperature is lower than 0 ℃, and −2 ℃ is used as the operating reference temperature to distinguish near-freezing weak cold conditions from strong freezing conditions. Based on the long-term evaluation results of 771 effective stations, the Ordinary Kriging method was used for spatial interpolation, and the natural cold energy resource levels were divided into five levels: scarce area, marginal area, usable area, rich area and extremely rich area according to ICQBI thresholds of 0.01, 0.03, 0.10 and 0.20. The dataset also constructed annual ICQBI sequences for 771 sites from 1973 to 2024. For missing years, on the basis of retaining existing observation results, annual anomaly information from nearby long-term stations is used to reconstruct to form a complete 52-year annual series. On this basis, short-term statistical forecasts from 2025 to 2034 are carried out through the site-level ARIMA model and rolling starting point verification method. This dataset can be used for research on the spatial distribution and long-term changes of natural cold energy resources in China, zoning of natural cold energy resources, regional comparison, preliminary screening of the suitability of seasonal cold storage and natural cooling technologies, and related climate change and low-carbon refrigeration research. It should be noted that ICQBI is a national-scale climate resource screening indicator and does not directly represent the actual cooling capacity, cold storage efficiency or economic benefits of specific engineering systems.