Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been described in the US as the "world's worst climate villain".

That's the bad news for the prime minister.

The good news is Mother Jones, the San Francisco-based nonprofit news organisation that gave him the label, is cautiously heartened by his government's recently published climate issues paper.

With a new global climate deal to be hammered out in Paris later this year, Abbott's issues paper states it is in Australia's national interest for "a strong and effective global agreement, that addresses carbon leakage and delivers environmental benefit".

Tuesday's Mother Jones article, with the headline "The World's Worst Climate Villain Just Showed Us Exactly How to Stop Global Warming", said there's reason to be sceptical and not get too excited about Abbott's climate stance.

"I have no idea what 'carbon leakage' is," Mother Jones climate desk associate producer Tim McDonnell wrote.

"Presumably it's something similar to carbon dioxide emissions, which are the leading cause of global warming.

"Regardless, the announcement is a welcome sign from an administration that was recently ranked as the 'worst industrial country in the world' on climate action."

Mother Jones describes itself as a nonprofit news organisation specialising in investigative, political and social justice reporting.