The energy transition is no longer merely a matter of environmental policy; it has evolved into a multi-layered field of compliance encompassing investment law, energy market regulation, environmental legislation, product safety, carbon compliance, and international trade. One of the most prominent issues at the center of this transformation is undoubtedly the use of hydrogen as a fuel.
Hydrogen is increasingly emerging as a complementary clean energy carrier, particularly in sectors where electrification alone is insufficient, such as industry, heavy transport, maritime shipping, aviation, and long-duration energy storage. From a legal perspective, however, the critical point is this: hydrogen does not automatically qualify as a “clean” or “sustainable” energy source merely by virtue of being hydrogen. Its environmental and commercial value depends on how it is produced, how it is stored, how it is transported, in which sector it is ultimately used, and how the equipment involved is managed at the end of its life cycle.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has identified low-emission hydrogen as an important instrument for achieving decarbonization in so-called “hard-to-abate” sectors, particularly steel, chemicals, and long-distance transport. At the same time, the IEA has also noted that the main factors constraining investment decisions include demand uncertainty, infrastructure gaps, and insufficient regulatory clarity. This observation clearly demonstrates how decisive legal predictability is in shaping energy investments.
From a sustainability perspective, one of the strongest features of hydrogen as a fuel lies in its ability—particularly when used in fuel cell technologies—to reduce direct carbon emissions at the point of use. Nevertheless, legal and technical assessments should not focus solely on “tailpipe emissions”; rather, they must be based on life-cycle analysis. This is because there is a significant environmental distinction between grey hydrogen produced from fossil fuels and green hydrogen produced through electrolysis powered by renewable electricity. For this reason, contemporary regulatory frameworks increasingly prefer more precise classifications such as renewable hydrogen, low-carbon hydrogen, or RFNBOs (renewable fuels of non-biological origin), rather than relying on the generic term “hydrogen.” The European Union’s Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1184, adopted in 2023, is a clear example of this normative shift, as it sets out in detail the conditions under which hydrogen may be legally recognized as “renewable.”
At this point, the sustainability debate acquires a second and equally important dimension: recycling and the circular economy. Hydrogen is often discussed primarily in relation to the fuel itself; however, the real legal risk area emerges within the broader hydrogen ecosystem, particularly with respect to electrolysers, fuel cells, pressurized tanks, composite storage systems, power electronics, and critical raw materials. Platinum group metals, nickel, specialized alloys, composite materials, and certain advanced membrane components are relevant not only to the environmental footprint of a project, but also to supply chain security and waste management obligations. Accordingly, hydrogen projects should not be assessed solely through the lens of energy licensing or carbon strategy. They must also be examined in conjunction with waste management rules, hazardous materials safety, end-of-life obligations for equipment, and product compliance requirements.
Within the European Union, this approach is becoming increasingly systematic. The EU’s 2020 strategic communication entitled “A Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate-Neutral Europe” treats hydrogen not merely as an energy vector, but as a broader instrument of industrial transformation, infrastructure development, certification, and investment security. The strategy emphasizes that the growth of the hydrogen market depends not only on production capacity, but also on the simultaneous development of certification schemes, demand creation mechanisms, infrastructure, and sustainable finance rules.
In this context, one of the EU’s most significant legal steps has been the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) – Regulation (EU) 2023/1804. This regulation aims to ensure the mandatory and measurable deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure—particularly along transport corridors—and integrates hydrogen refuelling infrastructure into the framework of transport law and internal market regulation. In other words, the commercialization of hydrogen is no longer merely a matter of energy policy; it is increasingly becoming a matter of mandatory infrastructure compliance.
Similarly, in sectors such as aviation and maritime transport, the legal status of hydrogen is no longer approached solely as a “green alternative,” but rather through the lenses of safety, certification, and operational compliance. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has issued interim safety guidelines for fuel-cell-powered ships and has continued its standardization efforts concerning alternative-fuel vessels, including technical and training-related requirements. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), for its part, acknowledges hydrogen’s long-term potential as a zero-carbon aviation fuel, while also noting that the sector remains at a developmental stage in terms of certification, infrastructure, and safety readiness. This demonstrates that hydrogen investment is not governed solely by energy law; rather, it constitutes a hybrid regulatory field subject to sector-specific safety and compliance regimes.
From the perspective of Türkiye, the legal landscape remains in a more developmental phase. As of today, Türkiye does not have a standalone “Hydrogen Act” that consolidates licensing, certification, infrastructure, trade, and life-cycle management within a single comprehensive legal instrument. However, this does not mean that the field is legally unregulated. On the contrary, what exists is a fragmented but expanding regulatory landscape. In line with Türkiye’s 2053 net-zero target, energy transition policies have accelerated, and the domestic ratification of the Paris Agreement through Law No. 7335 in 2021 has strengthened the policy relevance of low-carbon energy carriers such as hydrogen.
Among the most important official policy documents in Türkiye are the Türkiye National Energy Plan (2022) and the Türkiye Hydrogen Technologies Strategy and Roadmap (2023). The National Energy Plan sets out, among other objectives, the use of hydrogen blending in natural gas and a target of 5 GW electrolyser capacity by 2035, while the Hydrogen Technologies Strategy and Roadmap identifies hydrogen as a strategic component in relation to industry, energy storage, transport, and export potential. Although these documents do not have the force of law in the formal sense, they are highly significant from an investor’s perspective because they reveal the direction of administrative policy, the logic of potential incentives, and the likely trajectory of future secondary legislation.
That said, hydrogen projects in Türkiye are, in practice, assessed at the intersection of several existing legal domains: energy market regulation, environmental law, occupational health and safety, pressure vessels and industrial facility safety, storage and transportation rules, zoning and environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures, waste management, and, where relevant, customs and trade law. Particularly in the case of large-scale production or storage facilities, the legal treatment of a project may trigger issues relating to environmental impact assessment, emissions, hazardous chemical management, fire and explosion safety, storage tanks, and technical conformity inspections, depending on the nature and scale of the investment. Accordingly, for both domestic and foreign investors seeking to develop hydrogen projects in Türkiye, the key question is not whether there is a dedicated hydrogen statute, but rather which layers of the existing legal framework will apply concurrently.
It is precisely for this reason that, from the perspective of legal practice, the hydrogen sector differs fundamentally from conventional energy law matters. In this field, legal advisory work is rarely limited to licensing or contract drafting alone. In a hydrogen project, counsel must typically address a set of interrelated questions, including:
• What evidentiary mechanisms are required for the hydrogen produced to be legally recognized as renewable or low-carbon?
• If export is envisaged, how will certification and carbon intensity verification be managed for access to the EU market?
• Which legal regimes will govern the waste streams generated at the end of life of facility equipment?
• How should recovery and recycling obligations be structured with respect to fuel cell or electrolyser components?
• How will sustainable finance criteria and taxonomy-like benchmarks affect project finance and bankability?
• How should supply agreements and EPC structures allocate risks related to technological performance and regulatory change?
For Turkish companies operating within supply chains integrated with Europe, hydrogen is no longer merely “the fuel of the future.” It has already become a directly commercial issue in terms of export compliance, border carbon measures, green supply chain compatibility, and access to sustainable finance. For this reason, the legal strategy for hydrogen projects should not be built solely on the basis of current Turkish legislation. It must also be structured with due regard to EU norms, international technical standards, and sector-specific safety rules.
In conclusion, the use of hydrogen as a fuel offers a significant opportunity from the standpoint of sustainability. Yet this opportunity can only become genuinely “green” if it is supported by properly classified production, safe infrastructure, robust life-cycle management, and a credible recycling framework. From a legal perspective, hydrogen is not simply an energy source; it is a next-generation regulatory field situated at the intersection of energy, environmental, trade, industrial, and compliance law. Although the legal framework in Türkiye is still developing through fragmented regulations and strategic policy documents, early-stage legal structuring will provide a substantial competitive advantage—particularly for foreign investors and industrial actors. In the hydrogen economy, the real value today lies not merely in adopting the technology early, but in designing a project that is scalable, compliant, and export-ready through the right legal architecture.
References:
1. European Commission, A Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate-Neutral Europe, COM(2020) 301 final, 8 July 2020.
2. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1184 of 10 February 2023 supplementing Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing a Union methodology setting out detailed rules for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs), OJ L 157, 20 June 2023.
3. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1185 of 10 February 2023 supplementing Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing a minimum threshold for greenhouse gas emissions savings of recycled carbon fuels and by specifying a methodology for assessing greenhouse gas emissions savings from renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin and from recycled carbon fuels, OJ L 157, 20 June 2023.
4. Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, and repealing Directive 2014/94/EU (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation – AFIR), OJ L 234, 22 September 2023.
5. European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy, Renewable Hydrogen.
6. International Energy Agency (IEA), Hydrogen.
7. International Energy Agency (IEA), Global Hydrogen Review 2023.
8. International Energy Agency (IEA), Electrolysers.
9. International Maritime Organization (IMO), Alternative Fuel and Technology Safety Guidelines.
10. International Maritime Organization (IMO), MSC.1/Circ.1647 – Interim Guidelines for the Safety of Ships Using Fuel Cell Power Installations, 15 June 2022.
11. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Innovative Fuels.
12. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Green Hydrogen for Aviation.
13. Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Türkiye Hydrogen Technologies Strategy and Roadmap, 2023.
14. Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Türkiye National Energy Plan, 2022.
15. Law No. 7335 on the Approval of the Paris Agreement, Official Gazette No. 31621, 7 October 2021 (Republic of Türkiye).