diff --git a/xarray/backends/h5netcdf_.py b/xarray/backends/h5netcdf_.py
index 2b7c2d9057c..a5a6a31d05a 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/h5netcdf_.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/h5netcdf_.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import functools
+from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 import numpy as np
 
@@ -117,6 +118,7 @@ def open(
         lock=None,
         autoclose=False,
         invalid_netcdf=None,
+        phony_dims=None,
     ):
         import h5netcdf
 
@@ -124,6 +126,14 @@ def open(
             raise ValueError("invalid format for h5netcdf backend")
 
         kwargs = {"invalid_netcdf": invalid_netcdf}
+        if (phony_dims is not None) & (
+            LooseVersion(h5netcdf.__version__) >= LooseVersion("0.8.0")
+        ):
+            kwargs["phony_dims"] = phony_dims
+        else:
+            raise (
+                "h5netcdf backend keyword argument 'phony_dims' needs h5netcdf >= 0.8.0."
+            )
 
         if lock is None:
             if mode == "r":