Simon Bridges says he and Jacinda Ardern have been working behind the scenes to develop an "enduring" plan to combat climate change.

He told The AM Show on Monday he's had one private meeting with Ms Ardern, and National climate spokesman Todd Muller has met several times with Climate Change Minister James Shaw.

"We talked about whether we can have an enduring framework that everyone signs up to. That's a different thing from saying 'the target will definitely be this and we need to do those seven things'."

The difference between his party and the Government, he says, is that National wouldn't "try and do a Rogernomics, shock-and-awe" to meet the country's "ambitious" targets and meet its obligations under the Kyoto and Paris agreements.

It's likely he was referring to the Government's announcement earlier this year it would stop issuing exploration permits for new oil and gas fields, with a few exceptions.

While the Government has emphasised existing permits will be honoured, perhaps leading to decades' more drilling, National MP Judith Collins said in April the ban was the "worst thing" the Government could have done for New Zealand's emissions.

"Natural gas is a very clean-burning fuel and currently fuels about 16 percent of our electricity supply," she told The AM Show, saying power generators would turn to dirty coal to keep the turbines running.