Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, unveiled his new policy on the first day of Parliament having used the summer break to develop a new approach to tackling climate change.

The new direction followed the implosion of his party over earlier support for the Government's amended emissions trading scheme.

"A Coalition Government will take direct action to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by five percent by 2020," Mr Abbott said.

"This can be achieved without Kevin Rudd’s great big tax on everything that will increase the costs of living for Australian families, penalise Australian businesses and destroy jobs."

Mr Abbott said his policy would not be funded through any new taxes or increased taxes and it would protect Australian jobs.

"Over the forward estimates, the Coalition’s policy will cost $3.2 billion. In the comparable period, the Government’s ETS will cost $40 billion," he said.

"In contrast to the Government’s approach, the Coalition’s policy includes using our comparative advantages as a nation: soil and sun – both of which we have in abundance."

Mr Abbott said the Coalition was committed to a 140 million tonne reduction in carbon pollution by the year 2020.

He told Canberra journalists that his new policy would deliver the same reductions as the Government but would be "simpler, cheaper and more cost effective".

Titled as a 'Direct Action Plan', Mr Abbott said paying farmers to build soil carbon, the planting of some 20 million new trees, payments to households to install renewable energy systems, and a major expansion of solar energy generation would be pivotal to the new policy.

He said there would be no increased costs to consumers and no cost to jobs.

"This is a market driven policy driven by rewards," Mr Abbott said.

He said Australia was the most sun-drenched continent on earth, and it was time to "make use of our sunshine".

The Opposition has also promised a series of public debates, acknowledging what they see has been a "suppressed debate".

He said fundamentally the policy was careful, costed and capped, and pledged there could be no cost blow-outs.

Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said the new Coalition policy was nothing more than a "climate con job" and would slug tax payers and working families.

He told Question Time that the policy does less for the environment, costs more and would ultimately mean higher taxes compared to the Government's ETS.