Treasurer Joe Hockey has rejected suggestions Australia is out of step with the world's superpowers on climate change by labelling the historic US-China deal as a "Direct Action plan".
In a surprise announcement, the US says it will cut emissions by 26-28 per cent by 2025, while China has set a goal for its emissions to peak in 2030.
Labor and the Greens say the historic deal exposes the paucity of the government's plan to reach a reduction target of five per cent by 2020.
When asked how Australia was not out of step with China and the US when the Abbott government had abolished the Climate Change Commission, scrapped having a science minister, and shifted to Direct Action, Mr Hockey replied: "Well, because the United States and, in fact, China both have Direct Action plans."
"I might've missed it ... but I don't recall either the President of China or the President of the United States saying they were going to introduce a carbon tax," he told the ABC.
He said Australia was focusing on renewable energies and new technologies.
"That's a very similar path to what China and the United States are doing," he said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says while the US-China deal on greenhouse gas emissions is welcome, it shouldn't necessarily put climate change on the G20 agenda.
Climate change was "hardly mentioned" at APEC in Beijing and there were other forums for discussing the issue, he said.
"This is a major economic conference. It is the world's premier economic conference," he said in Nawpyidaw, referring to the weekend's G20 summit in Brisbane.
"I certainly expect the focus will be on economic reform, economic growth, how do we drive growth and jobs."
The government says it will consider the US-China agreement when settling on a post-2020 target before the UN climate change summit in Paris next year.
Labor wants an emissions trading scheme in place by then, arguing the government has no interest in tackling climate change.
"They have got egg on their face because the rest of the world is dealing with an issue that Tony Abbott doesn't want to talk about," Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said.
The Climate Institute says the government would need to aim for a 30 per cent cut by 2025 to match the US.
The Greens want zero per cent emissions by 2050.
Leading businessman Tony Shepherd, while lauding the US-China agreement as a move in the right direction, cautioned against accepting it as fact.
"Let's be a little bit realistic. It's still go to get through a hostile US Congress," he told ABC radio.
