Renowned climate change campaigner Al Gore came to Australia's coal capital on taxpayer money and lunched with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today. Neither of them mentioned Adani.

Key points: Mr Gore said Australia needed to look past chasing "dinosaur projects of the past"

Mr Gore said Australia needed to look past chasing "dinosaur projects of the past" His trip to Queensland was funded with $320,000 of Queensland Government money

His trip to Queensland was funded with $320,000 of Queensland Government money He dined with the Queensland Premier who also spoke and likewise avoided mentioning Adani

Mr Gore is a vocal advocate for a different climate future. He is pro-renewables and anti-coal.

His documentary An Inconvenient Truth, in which he voiced his concerns about the impacts of climate change, won an Academy Award in 2007.

But as he took to the stage in Brisbane, there was another inconvenient truth in the room.

At a climate change speech in the capital of Australia's resource state, Mr Gore said Queensland needed to move away from fossil fuel projects, but declined to say the A-word.

The former United States vice president had just met Ms Palaszczuk when he addressed a room of hundreds about the economics of climate change.

He spoke of a "sustainable revolution" involving solar and wind technology, but there was no discussion of Adani's proposed Carmichael coal mine in Central Queensland.

The omission comes with less than a week to go until the Queensland Government's self-imposed deadline on an environmental approval that would give the mega coal mine its final governmental go-ahead.

Mr Gore himself hinted it was a sensitive subject, with a veiled poke at traditional energy production.

"The nation has to make a decision," he said.

"We educate the engineers that you need, we build the infrastructure that's necessary, or you avoid the opportunity cost of still going after dinosaur projects of the past. That's all I'm going to say," he said.

Mr Gore's trip to the Sunshine State was controversially funded with $320,000 of Queensland taxpayer money.

Al Gore and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk were both avoiding the A-word. ( AAP Image: Dan Peled )

He dined with Ms Palaszczuk, who also spoke at the event and likewise avoided referring to Adani and thermal coal production.

"In Queensland we are — and will continue to be — a state where minerals that sustain human existence are dug from the ground," she said.

"As long as the world needs steel, we will need iron ore and metallurgical coal to make it."

Mr Gore also suggested coal production for India, as proposed with Adani's mine, may not be needed.

The Indian mining giant wants to export up to 60 million tonnes of coal from its Queensland mine to India each year.

"In India, which in some important ways is connected with this region in Australia and others, they're building 225 gigawatts of solar and the price of electricity from solar is now 25 per cent lower than the electricity of coal," Mr Gore said.

"And some coal mines in India are shutting down."

The students rallied at King George Square in the Brisbane CBD on Friday afternoon. ( ABC News: Mark Slade )

Meanwhile, about 300 university students gathered at King George Square in Brisbane's CBD to rally against the proposed Adani coal mine.

Greens member Michael Berkman was one of several speakers at the event concerned about the State Government's ongoing support of the Carmichael coal project.