‘Green hydrogen is not dead,’ insisted Chris Bowen, Australia’s benighted Minister for Energy and Climate Change as the news broke last week that iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest had abandoned his quixotic quest to produce 15 million tonnes a year of the fuel by 2030.

Only a year ago, Forrest claimed that ‘Anyone, including Elon (Musk), including, you know, whoever you like, who says hydrogen hasn’t got a massive future, are muppets.’

But Forrest was looking more muppet than mogul as he announced last week that he was ‘postponing’ his hydrogen targets to an unspecified date in the future.

Abandoning the 2030 target...