Mr Howard and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane made the announcement two days after the Stern report warned of the dire consequences of not tackling climate change.
In his report, Sir Nicholas Stern slated Australia for not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for reducing emissions.
Mr Macfarlane says the timing of this announcement, which will fund 42 projects to be developed in collaboration with five other countries, was a coincidence.
The other countries known as the Asia-Pacific Partnership, are the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, and India.
Mr Howard said that 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 single largest grant of $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.