Former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has savaged the Coalition's direct action plan to combat climate change as a "recipe for fiscal recklessness".

Giving his first parliamentary speech since losing the Liberal leadership in December, Mr Turnbull indicated he would cross the floor to vote with Labor when a vote was taken on the carbon pollution reduction scheme.

Mr Turnbull was scathing of the Coalition's new direct-action policy, which aims to provide financial incentives to industry for reducing carbon emissions.

"We all know ... that industry and businesses attended by an army of lobbyists are particularly persuasive and all too effective at getting their sticky fingers into the taxpayer's pocket," he told Parliament today.