Labor won't be releasing its carbon emission target before the UN climate summit in Paris.
But opposition climate spokesman Mark Butler says the target, to be released before the next federal election, would be higher than that proposed by the Turnbull government.
The government will take to the December summit an emissions reduction target of between 26 and 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.
Mr Butler said the government's target put Australia "at the back of the pack" in terms of other OECD nations.
He said no final decision had been made within Labor as to its target.
"I don't think there's any particular need for the alternative government to put an alternative position before an international conference like the Paris conference," Mr Butler told Sky News on Tuesday.
"Everyone clearly understands there's no way the Labor party would go lower."
He said Labor was considering not only a 2030 target but a 2025 goal.
"There's a lot of pressure to start having these targets on a rolling five-yearly basis rather than way out 15 years," he said.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt told a conference in China that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would be attending the Paris summit, as well as Mr Hunt and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
Mr Hunt said the prime minister would have some "very constructive" things to say on the first day of the summit.
Asked about Labor's target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, Mr Hunt said he expected to be able to build on the existing 33,000 gigawatt hours target when the next round of pledging comes around in 2020.
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