Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Needs
May 2025
Zero-emission hydrogen produced in California could help reduce carbon emissions and air pollution from aviation, as well as support energy resilience. Produced from carbon-free electricity, this hydrogen has the potential to fuel both airport ground operations and, eventually, aircraft themselves, either as an ingredient for carbon-neutral liquid fuels to replace petroleum or to power fuel cells for zero-emission aircraft.
Yet today, hydrogen use in California’s aviation industry remains limited, primarily supporting ground transportation and the production of renewable diesel from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids. As of January 2023, the state’s aviation-related hydrogen consumption was approximately 1,600 tonnes annually—just 0.2% of California’s total in-state hydrogen production capacity.
To explore hydrogen’s broader role in aviation, UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE), along with San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and RMI, co-chaired the Aviation Working Group for the federally funded ARCHES (Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems) California-based public-private partnership focused on accelerating the development and deployment of renewable, clean hydrogen projects. The working group developed an Aviation White Paper that maps out a path forward for both the short- and long-term future of hydrogen in California’s aviation sector.
Key Findings and Recommendations
Despite its promise, scaling hydrogen use at airports faces several hurdles, including high production costs, limited infrastructure, and a lack of consistent safety standards. The white paper highlights actionable strategies to overcome these challenges:
- State legislative and agency leaders could collaborate with industry organizations and other stakeholders to develop and adopt relevant standards and policies for airport hydrogen storage, distribution, and refueling infrastructure, along with aircraft and ground support equipment.
- The California Air Resources Board could incentivize the use of low-carbon hydrogen as an input to liquid sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production or other chemical/industrial processes, as well as for direct hydrogen consumption by aircrafts.
- California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Energy Commission (CEC) leaders could consider inclusion of aviation in California’s low emissions programs, such as the CEC’s Clean Transportation Program, in order to accelerate hydrogen aircraft and propulsion timelines and help de-risk investment.
- Airport leaders could empower forward-thinking executive teams to recruit producers based on price, proximity, and availability of zero-emission hydrogen to meet the needs of their operator-customers.
Access the full white paper here: ARCHES Aviation White Paper
Contact Shruti Sarode or Ethan Elkind for more information.