Climate change expert Tim Flannery's "Obama-style" campaign to raise cash for a new Climate Council has generated $1 million.
Professor Flannery was sacked as head of the federal government Climate Commission when Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced he was abolishing the body to save money.
It was set up two years ago by the former Labor government to increase public awareness of climate-change science.
The commission once had $1.6 million in annual taxpayer funding at its disposal, but the new council is relying entirely on donations generated through an "Obama-style" online fundraising drive.
The council believes the $1 million raised in a week could be a record for the biggest crowd funding project in Australian history, beating the previous record of $243,480 for video game Patient 0.
Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie said 20,000 Australians had made donations.
The average donation was $50.
"Australians have demanded to know what is happening to the planet," she said, in a statement.
The money will go to employing researchers, developing reports and increasing public awareness about climate change science, she said.
Former commissioners, including climate scientists Will Steffen and Lesley Hughes and former BP Australasia president Gerry Hueston have agreed to volunteer their time to the revamped body.
The council has been hard at work releasing a "lay-person's" guide to the the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.
