Hydrogen-powered Aviation

Sadik Al-Hassan Excerpts

Tuesday 17th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sadik Al-Hassan (North Somerset) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered hydrogen powered aviation.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I will start by thanking everyone who has come this morning to participate in this debate. This subject sits at the crossroads of three major challenges facing our country today: our climate ambitions, our pursuit of technological innovation and our desire to kickstart domestic industry.

As the Member of Parliament for North Somerset, my constituency is certainly no stranger to the aerospace industry. Since the pandemic, Bristol airport has emerged as one of the UK’s fastest-growing airports, now serving 10 million passengers a year, with plans to increase that to 15 million passengers a year by 2040. Although many of my constituents have expressed support for the potential for the 10,000 or so additional jobs such an expansion may bring to my local area, many more have expressed concern over how it can be squared against the airport’s aim to achieve net zero by 2030.

Last week, we saw the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill enter the House for its Second Reading. That Bill will do much to spur and support the nation’s sustainable aviation fuel sector, in which Bristol airport is already a leading light. I—and I have no doubt many Members in this room—would echo those sentiments. I am a strong supporter of sustainable aviation fuel, and I look forward to seeing the transformational effect it will have on aviation emissions in the years to come.

The Government have already clearly displayed their vision and leadership in this space, and set forth a sensible plan to bring about the maturity of this sector. That is why I wish to focus our debate today not on the technology of tomorrow, but on that of the day after. Hydrogen-powered aviation presents one of the few truly scalable zero-emission pathways for the future of aviation, allowing us to meet our net zero targets while simultaneously keeping flying affordable and accessible.

We currently find ourselves in a fortunate position. The UK is already home to some of the most innovative aerospace companies in the word. From Airbus, located near my old house in Filton—in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke (Claire Hazelgrove)—to Rolls-Royce in Derby, we have a wealth of expertise to draw on, with a track record of innovative success. Aviation is currently responsible for around 7% of emissions in the UK today, with that figure expected to rise to 16% by 2035 unless meaningful action is taken soon.

Although in recent years we have had great success in decarbonising our power generation, cars, heating and many other sectors, the stark reality is that aviation is one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise. Currently aviation is primarily fuelled by kerosene, and although great strides have been made in sustainable aviation fuel in recent years, there are currently no cost-competitive alternatives available. As the world continues on the inextricable path towards even greater levels of globalism and integration, the aviation industry’s ability to move people and goods swiftly across continents will only continue to grow in importance.

However, as aviation’s role in the global economy continues to grow, so will its contribution to global emissions, unless we have the foresight today to take the necessary steps for tomorrow and begin supporting the nascent hydrogen aviation industry. In my constituency, Bristol airport has shown real vision and leadership by taking a leading role in the Hydrogen in Aviation alliance, which has laid out a clear case for immediate action to secure our comparative advantage, not just for the betterment of our environment but for the economic prospects. That is a part of this debate that is not spoken about enough.

Many years ago, the UK was an early innovator and pioneer in the offshore wind sector, but a slow, disjointed deployment saw many of the manufacturing opportunities shift abroad to Europe, China and elsewhere. Today we find ourselves in a similar situation with hydrogen. The next 10 years will be critical: either we develop a coherent policy framework, which encourages private sector investment, or we will cede our leadership to the United States, China, the European Union and others, who are already heavily investing in hydrogen-powered aviation. By 2050, the global hydrogen economy is predicted to be worth around $8 trillion. Let us not make the mistake of the offshore wind sector again. Let us be leaders in this space, and so reap the rewards.

The west of England boasts the largest aerospace cluster in the UK. I recently had the privilege of visiting my former university in Bath, and the science park it has developed in tandem with the University of Bristol. They are doing excellent work to realise hydrogen’s potential to transform the aviation sector. Those twin pillars of south-west higher education are working closely with Airbus and Bristol airport as part of the Hydrogen South West group, which aims to cement the position of North Somerset, Bristol and the surrounding area as a national leader in the field.

During my visit to the science park it was made clear to me that although they are excited about the role that hydrogen has to play in the future of the aviation industry, the ever-shifting net zero policy landscape—especially the perceived lack of clarity from the Government on hydrogen’s future role—has handicapped the sector’s ability to draw in private investment. The Government must make it clear to the private sector that they do have faith in hydrogen’s ability to transform the aviation sector, and that early investment into the nascent industry will be rewarded in future.

According to data supplied by the sector’s trade association ADS, the global aviation industry could require more than 100 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2050, even by today’s lacklustre transition plans. As we have seen with sustainable aviation fuel, the scaling up of production to those levels will require not just significant private and Government investment, but years to develop plans, build plants and train a sufficiently skilled workforce. It is imperative that we get moving on this issue today.

Although in one moment we must applaud the Government for their work on sustainable aviation fuel, in the next we must begin turning and then fixing their gaze towards hydrogen. The Government have already signalled support of the sector by announcing £100 million for the development of hydrogen planes through the Aerospace Technology Institute programme shortly after coming to power last July. In the autumn Budget, the Government announced almost £1 billion for the aerospace sector over the next five years. Similarly, in the spending review delivered by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor last week, £500 million was committed to support the development of hydrogen infrastructure.

Over the past year, however, I have had innumerable conversations with leading figures in the sector, who have told me time and again of significant anxiety as to whether the UK Government envisage hydrogen having a direct role in the aviation industry in the medium to long term. While other countries push ahead with hydrogen, rightly seeing it as a valuable export market, we run the risk of being left in their wake—or contrails—unless we get a move on and make clear to the industry our steadfast support.

The experience of transition to renewables taught us that although Government investment can catalyse partnerships with the private sector, it ultimately must fall to the private sector to be the driver of change. Before the private sector will start the engine, it falls to this House and this Government thoroughly to investigate this area, set sensible standards and support the development of the necessary infrastructure, to enable a hydrogen-powered aviation future. To that end, I eagerly look forward to hearing from the Minister how he intends to support the industry further in the critical 10 years to come.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sadik Al-Hassan]

I, too, thank all the hon. Members who have contributed to the debate. It was fantastic to hear from the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) about the importance of mitigating any impact of this change on constituents and of challenging scepticism about hydrogen’s role. He is definitely on the bus when it comes to hydrogen. My hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) is a champion of his local airport and of green hydrogen, which offers us strategic energy independence and jobs while also helping us to meet climate targets. The hon. Member for Thornbury and Yate (Claire Young) talked about the innovation history in the west of England, a region that she said is up for the challenges of hydrogen while prioritising change in aviation.

Front Benchers made a number of important points, too, including about the risk of doing nothing for our ability to meet our climate targets; the skills needed to reflect the changes to regulation to go alongside the Government’s announced funding; the need for a long-term plan to drive investment; the fact that hydrogen is good for the planet and good for Britain; the role of the Government in providing leadership in this hydrogen age, not only in the UK but internationally; and the effect of a refocused Jet Zero Council on progress on catching up in order to meet our plans for a greener aviation sector. I also welcome the UK-US trade deal and its potential benefits for the nascent hydrogen economy. I thank all the relevant Members for bringing those points to the fore; I am certain that the Minister has heard them and will take them away.

We have heard today about the extraordinary opportunities across the country that the development of the aviation sector might bring. I have seen at first hand in my constituency of North Somerset that it is an incredibly exciting sector, which has long been at the cutting edge of innovation in this country; hydrogen-powered aviation is just the latest link in a chain stretching back over 100 years.

I get the sense that we are unified behind hydrogen-powered aviation. We all agree on the need to reach our legally binding net zero targets, and that we must do so in a way that maintains the affordability and accessibility of the modern aviation industry. I believe that hydrogen-powered aviation is the answer. Down the line, we might disagree on some minor tactical points, but so long as we agree on the overarching aim and strategy, I believe that we can get there.

Realising the potential of hydrogen-powered aviation is incredibly important, not just for the long-term regional economic prospects of constituencies such as mine, in which Bristol airport plays such a key role in our local economy, but for our nation as a whole. As we have heard, the aviation industry supports over 1.6 million jobs across our country and contributes over £120 billion to our economy every year. While we are here to recognise its contributions to our emissions, I think we agree on its importance to our future economic growth and, therefore, on the need to support its decarbonisation while not imperilling its expected strong growth.

I thank Members again for their contributions. I look forward to seeing how the sector continues to develop in the years to come. As they say, the sky’s the limit.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered hydrogen powered aviation.