Hopes for green hydrogen replacing fossil fuels any time soon have been tempered by former CSIRO chairman David Thodey.
Australia is increasingly looking at hydrogen to consolidate its future as one of the largest global energy exporters.
But Mr Thodey told business leaders on Thursday the process of making hydrogen with renewable or low-carbon power was not yet straightforward.
"I love green hydrogen but we have not proven that we can scale it," he said in Sydney.
"We haven't even proven we can move it that easily.
"The amount of energy we require to get to green hydrogen is just enormous."
Yet Australia was right to focus efforts on developing green hydrogen, said Thodey, who chairs the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and accounting software maker Xero.
Iron ore giant Fortescue Metals is steering toward green hydrogen and green steel while state and federal governments have backed a $87 million green hydrogen and ammonia project near Karratha in Western Australia, which would become one of the world's largest plants of its kind.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen says hydrogen will become an increasingly important part of the energy mix, but admits there was a lot of hype about the ability to produce it with renewable energy.
"There should be a lot of hype about green hydrogen, there needs to be a lot of hype," he said on Thursday.
"But it's not yet commercial (or) exportable.
"I'm very confident it will become both of those things but not by accident."
Australia and 19 other countries have their own hydrogen strategies, Mr Bowen said, and another 26 are developing them.
"Somebody will get there (on green hydrogen) but I want us to get there first," he said.
That and other efforts to decarbonise Australia require governments and private businesses to work together, he said.
The comments came as Mr Bowen opened Boston Consulting Group's climate and sustainability hub in Sydney.
The hub, and eight others in global cities such as New York, will be used to link governments, businesses, researchers and non-profits to collaborate on best practice and innovations in decarbonisation and other sustainability methods.
"It's important to be making progress as fast as we can and we see the opportunity to collaborate makes a huge impact," BCG partner Rebecca Russell told AAP.
