Prime Minister John Howard has announced $60 million in funding on projects to help cut greenhouse emissions, including almost $20 million for clean coal technology and $11 million for coal mining.
Two days after the Stern report warned of the dire consequences of not tackling climate change, Mr Howard and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane announced funding for 42 projects to be developed in collaboration with five other countries in the Asia-Pacific Partnership.
The other countries are the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, and India.
In his report, Sir Nicholas Stern slated Australia for not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for reducing emissions.
But Mr Macfarlane said the timing of today's announcement was a complete coincidence.
Mr Howard said the projects showed how important the new Asia-Pacific climate bloc, known as the AP6, would be to cutting emissions.
"The Asia-Pacific Partnership includes countries that represent about half of the world's emissions, energy use, GDP (gross domestic product) and population, and is an important initiative that engages, for the first time, the key greenhouse-gas emitting countries in the Asia-Pacific region," Mr Howard said in a statement.
"The partnership is committed to addressing the challenges of climate change, energy security and air pollution in a way that encourages economic development and reduces poverty."
The funding includes $17.5 million for renewable energy projects, including high efficiency solar power stations and solar-enhanced transport fuels.
Almost $6 million has been set aside for projects to improve electricity efficiency in buildings and appliances, as well as $2.5 million to help the aluminium industry reduce emissions.
"The projects cover a range of areas including renewable energies, improving environmental performance of fossil fuels, energy efficiency and best environmental practice in sectors such as coal mining and aluminium production," Mr Howard said.
The funding is part of Australia's contribution to the AP6 - comprising Australia, India, Japan, China, South Korea and the US - which met for the first time in Sydney last January.
The single largest grant - $8 million - has gone to a CSIRO project to develop a mobile post-combustion capture plant for coal-fired power stations, to capture and filter emissions.
Australia has committed $100 million to the partnership.