Hydrogen is front and centre of a $1 billion federal Labor plan to boost Australia's renewable energy industry.

The funding would go to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to support clean hydrogen development.

The emerging industry could be worth $10 billion in 20 years and create 16,000 new jobs in regional Australia, according to the opposition.

Gladstone already exports LNG. Labor now wants the central Queensland city to be a hydrogen hub.

Hydrogen produces water vapour and heat when burned, and is close to a zero-emissions fuel when produced from water using renewable electricity, or from coal or methane combined with carbon capture and storage.