N-doped carbon xerogels synthesized from melamine-resorcinol-formaldehyde aqueous gels were used as supports for the preparation of Pd-based catalysts for the formic acid dehydrogenation reaction. The effect of the pore texture and nitrogen content of the carbon xerogels on the catalytic activity for the hydrogen production was investigated. It was observed that an appropriate nitrogen doping in a well-defined micro-mesoporous carbon xerogel enables the preparation of Pd catalysts with appreciable catalytic enhancement towards the formic acid dehydrogenation as compared to the N-free counterpart, reaching an initial TOF value of 2014 h(-1).