The passenger ferry MV Sea Change is due this month to make its maiden voyage across San Francisco Bay. But it won’t be the usual hour-long chug for the 75 passengers travelling north to Vallejo, California. Guests might notice how quiet the engine is – and they could even drink the emissions it releases.

That’s because MV Sea Change is the first commercial ferry to be powered not by the usual diesel engine but entirely from hydrogen. Its only emission is pure water.

The project is a pilot run as part of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority’s mission to phase out diesel-powered ferries by 2035. “We want to be a catalyst for the evolution of this technology,” says Seamus Murphy, the authority’s executive director.

Low-carbon shipping is making waves across the maritime sector. In May, for example, Future Proof Shipping launched a hydrogen-powered inland container ship that moves cargo between the Netherlands and Belgium several times a week. The company estimates this will cut 2,000 tonnes of CO2 annually that diesel engines would have emitted.