The Labor energy spokesman said the Morrison government's recalcitrant stance on climate and energy policy meant the country had not kept up in the global hydrogen race. 

In a speech to the Australian Hydrogen Council today seen by Energy News, Bowen laid out Labor's full stance on hydrogen for the first time, saying the party was open to blue hydrogen - formed using natural gas with the associative emissions captured or stored - as well as green, which is generated via renewable powered electrolysis. 

"If blue hydrogen stacks up scientifically and commercially, it should be supported and ultimately that will be decided by markets and evidence, not politicians," he said.  

However, he argued that the government changing the remit of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Australian Renewable Energy Agency to fund projects such as blue hydrogen and CCS was a bad fit. 

Bowen said the changes were part of a broader effort by the Morrison government to conflate green and blue hydrogen as "clean" hydrogen, saying it does a disservice to both. 

"They're different technologies, with different commercial propositions as a result," he said. 

"If projects like those proceed, blue hydrogen will make an important contribution to regional economies and communities, and to our national energy mix, but that's no reason to bastardise the CEFC and ARENA."

He also argued that making the funding changes would mean diverting investment from crucial renewable energy technologies. 

"They don't have the money, the expertise or frankly the appetite to invest in fossil fuel technologies. It's a bad fit all round," he said. 

"In any case, we should be honest, clear-eyed, and evidence-based, not ideological in either direction." 

According to ARENA's new funding model released earlier this week, it defines clean hydrogen as hydrogen produced from renewable energy or with ‘substantial' carbon capture and storage. It does not define ‘substantial'. 

The Morrison government, the oil and gas industry and its representative bodies have argued funding for blue hydrogen is crucial to establish a viable market for the gas while the price of electrolysers for green hydrogen comes down. 

However, that claim is coming under scrutiny, with Ivy-league research finding that the fugitive emissions associated with blue hydrogen cancelled out its climate-friendly credentials, and the likes of FMG's Andrew Forrest and Star Scientific's Andrew Horvath, both green hydrogen developers, lashing the claims as efforts to simply perpetuate the use of fossil fuels. 

Bowen used the speech to urge the government to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050, as well as a ‘credible medium-term ambition', arguing it would help drive hydrogen demand. 

Federal Labor policy is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, but it has yet to announce what its interim 2030 target will be, while arguing Australia's current 26-28% by 2030 target was not enough. 

"[Hydrogen] demand could - should - start with a credible ambition to reduce our national emissions," he said. 

"It should be backed by plans to decarbonise each existing sector, using hydrogen where it makes sense." 

The Morrison government has committed billions to hydrogen and funding development, which has been welcomed across industry and politics, however the Australian Hydrogen Council has previously said more is needed to be globally competitive with the likes of Europe. 

"Labor understands the enormous potential of hydrogen for our energy mix and our economy. We understand the need for policies across our economy to stimulate demand," Bowen said. 

Oil and gas body APPEA CEO Andrew McConville responded to Bowen's speech arguing that gas was a pathway to a large-scale and innovative commercial hydrogen industry. 

"This is both in using natural gas to produce hydrogen and using gas infrastructure to process and transport hydrogen," he said. 

"Australia's LNG export success story means the Australian upstream oil and gas industry has the technology, expertise, commercial and trade relationships to make, in particular, hydrogen exports a reality."

Bowen noted carbon-intensive exporters were turning to hydrogen to diversify their offerings as the world decarbonised, urging the government to put forward more ambitious policy ahead of the upcoming COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in November to support it. 

"The government's lack of ambition and forward thinking matters for you as an industry," he said.