Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he has been forced to put his emissions trading scheme (ETS) on ice because of the Coalition's opposition and the slow pace of international climate change action.

Mr Rudd has confirmed the ETS has been shelved until at least 2013 so the Government can consider what the rest of the world will do beyond the expiration of the Kyoto protocol.

He says the Government remains committed to implementing the scheme but the Opposition's refusal to back it and the lack of international progress in the wake of the Copenhagen talks meant it had to be delayed.

"The Liberal Party have executed a complete backflip in their historical position in support of an ETS," he said.

"The rest of the world is being slower to act on appropriate action on climate change.

"It's very plain that the correct course of action is to extend the implementation date.

"What we need to make a judgment of is what happens post-2012 and what the rest of the world is doing, because the rest of the world and what they do is pretty important in terms of Australia's future actions as well."

Mr Rudd has in the past described climate change as a "great moral challenge of our generation" and said action could not be delayed.

The Opposition's about-face on the ETS after Tony Abbott took on the Liberal leadership last year dashed the Government's hope of passing the legislation after Mr Abbott ditched support for an amended scheme negotiated by his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull.

The Greens also refuse to support the bill because they say it gives too many concessions to industry and its emissions reduction targets are too weak.

When asked if the Government would consider negotiating with the Greens, Mr Rudd replied: "Our doors have always remained open to negotiations with people from all sides of politics.

"But when you have one side of politics saying that you cannot act on climate change through an ETS and another side that would happily close the economy down tomorrow, it makes life a bit of a challenge."

The scheme has now been removed from the upcoming budget papers and its delay means the Government could save $2.5 billion over the next three years because it will not have to pay for household and industry compensation.

The legislation had been a key piece of the Government's first-term legislative agenda but it is unlikely to be used as the trigger for a double dissolution election.

Mr Abbott, meanwhile, has accused the Government of lacking credibility.

"It's very hard to take this Prime Minister seriously when he has reneged apparently on this solemn judgment and solemn commitment to the Australian people," he said.

"It seems the Government has dropped its policy to deal with climate change, namely an ETS, because it is frightened the public think that this really is just a great big new tax on everything," he said.

"I'm quite happy for the next election to be a referendum on Mr Rudd's great big new tax on everything, and he's frightened of that."

Greens Leader Bob Brown says the Government's actions are "disgraceful".

"It seems the Government is dropping all the values issues," he said.

"It seems unable to be able to carry through with proposals which were at the heart of its approach to the last election.

"We do have an action plan before the Senate and before the Australian Parliament. We simply don't have a Government which has got the ability to act," he said.

"We've got a Government which is reneging, dissembling, backing off, failing."

The Australian Conservation Foundation has described the delay as unacceptable, while the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has welcomed the move.