The Australian National University's Development Policy Centre has found that the opposition Liberal-National Coalition is opposed to the use of aid in climate change programmes.
Its research compares the policies of Australia's two major political parties on aid and international development ahead of next month's election.
The author of the research, Robin Davies, says that unlike the ruling Labor Party, the Coalition is bound to oppose the use of aid to reduce carbon emissions in Pacific Island states, and in climate change financing.
He says the Shadow Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, claims that using aid for climate financing is inconsistent with the Copenhagen Agreement.
"Which said that funding for action on climate change had to be new and additional, relative to aid budgets, so that might be the reason. Or it might be that a lot of these programmes are really about preparing developing countries to participate in global carbon markets and the Coalition here is not in favour of emissions pricing, it prefers a direct action approach to reducing emissions."
Robin Davies of the Australian National University
