Driven by the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, building and industrial heating systems of China are rapidly transitioning toward clean and low-carbon models. However, significant temporal and spatial mismatches exist between renewable energy generation and heating demand, hindering the deep decarbonization of the heating sector. This study proposes a novel hydrogen heat pump system that integrates the zero-carbon characteristics of hydrogen energy with the high-efficiency energy upgrading capability of heat pumps, providing a technological pathway that balances efficiency and flexibility for the deep decarbonization of end-use energy systems. On this basis, the technical characteristics and current development status of hydrogen heat pump power components and heat pump systems are examined, and technical routes for hydrogen heat pump systems driven by various power units are constructed for two application scenarios: hot water supply as well as combined heat and power (CHP) supply. The expected energy performance and economic benefits of the hydrogen heat pump systems under different configurations are then evaluated. In the hot water supply scenario, hydrogen heat pump systems driven by fuel cells exhibit higher expected energy efficiency than those driven by combustion-based power devices, among which systems driven by proton exchange membrane fuel cells and solid oxide fuel cells show the highest expected energy efficiency. In the CHP scenario, the expected energy performance differences among systems driven by different power devices are relatively small; however, combustion-based systems show a higher proportion of thermal energy output. As the steam temperature increases, the overall system efficiency remains nearly unchanged, while the proportion of heat output in the total energy output gradually increases. Overall, the hydrogen energy heat pump technology can help alleviate the temporal and spatial mismatch between renewable energy supply and heating/cooling demands. As an interface device for coupling electricity, heat, and hydrogen, the hydrogen heat pump can be flexibly applied in future large-scale centralized heating systems, small-scale distributed heating systems, zero-carbon industrial park energy centers, high-efficiency cooling systems for data centers, large transportation hubs, and other large-scale application scenarios, thereby playing an important role in improving end-use energy efficiency and promoting deep decarbonization of energy systems.