Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has today returned to John Howard's failed approach to pay for industry action to reduce emissions - an approach notoriously open to rorts and pork-barrelling.

"Both Mr Rudd and Mr Abbott have studiously avoided making polluters pay, avoided the tremendous potential of protecting Australia's forest carbon stores and avoided the reality of what climate science demands," Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne said.

"The Greens are now the only party advocating an effective and efficient approach to tackling the climate crisis using both a market mechanism and direct action.

"Tony Abbott wants to hand-pick which industries or projects are the beneficiaries of what will be a massive funds transfer out of schools and hospitals and into aluminium smelters and new coal fired power stations.

"This is a 'tried and failed' approach, based on John Howard's Greenhouse Gas Abatement Program, which was slammed by the Auditor General but loved by polluters looking for greenwash. It failed because it paid polluters to do what they were going to do anyway.

"The Greens do, of course, welcome the proposed increase in funds for solar rooves, and we again invite the opposition to discuss our proposal to fix the mess the government has made of the renewable energy target.

"There is not a peep from Mr Abbott about how we will turn around Australia's escalating emissions from transport, investing in public transport and electrifying our car fleet.

"Stopping logging of native forests and land clearing were ignored as immediate sources of emission reductions in favour of a narrow focus on soil carbon.

"While we are as excited as anybody about the potential of soil carbon, there are very big questions about its permanence and accounting. That is no excuse for ignoring it, but it would be folly to rely on this one area as the centrepiece of an emissions reduction strategy.

"It is, of course, difficult to give credit to Mr Abbott's scheme when he so recently told us he thinks that a 4C temperature rise is not catastrophic.

"But bear in mind that his woefully low level of ambition matches Mr Rudd's.

"Clearly, Australians will have to look elsewhere for leadership on the climate crisis.

"In the meantime, we Greens will continue to work with the government towards an interim solution to get Australia moving."