Damage stemming from Australia's climate policy standoff is an "important" issue that should be better addressed, Environment Minister Greg Hunt says, amid fears that toxic politics around emissions cuts is unsettling investors and hurting the economy.

However, common ground was in short supply when Mr Hunt met Labor environment spokesman Mark Butler at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, in a pre-election debate dominated by disagreement over the best way to address global warming, and suggestions that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will remain beholden to his party's Abbott-aligned climate sceptics if returned to power.

Mr Butler said the federal government's abolition of Labor's so-called carbon tax had "smashed to pieces" Australia's chances of capitalising on jobs and investment in renewable energy after the successful global climate deal in Paris last year.

The change had also allowed carbon pollution levels from electricity to rise by more than 5 per cent in less than two years and "Australia is now pretty much the only major advanced economy where pollution levels are going up, not coming down", he said.