Australia has been singled out as the worst-performing country on climate change policy, according to a new international ranking.

The non-profit thinktank NewClimate Institute, based in Berlin, looks at national climate action across the categories of emissions, renewable energy, energy use and policy.

Australia came 51st out of 57 countries across all four categories, including dead last in the assessment of climate policy - below countries that are not known for their green credentials, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan.

Australia scored a zero out of 100 for its climate policies.

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The report criticised the Morrison government for being a "regressive force" in international climate policy negotiations.

"The dismissal of recent IPCC reports, the government not attending the UN Climate Action Summit in September, and the withdrawal from funding the Green Climate Fund (GCF) underpin the overall very low performance in the climate policy category," the report said.

Portugal was given the highest rank on climate policy, while Sweden came out at the top across all four categories.

Asked if the report was an indictment to his government's response to globalwarming, the Prime Minister flatly attacked its credibility.

"I completely reject that report ... I don't think it's credible," he said.

Speaking at the United Nations climate talks in Madrid after the report came out, Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor did not mention the bushfires back home that have burnt more than 2.7 million hectares of bushland.

Parts of Sydney this week have registered pollution levels more than 12 times the level deemed hazardous.

The emissions reduction minister said Australia could only reduce emissions as fast as commercially viable technologies became available.

"Strong messages and targets alone won't address climate change, no matter how ambitious," Taylor said.

"We cannot move faster than the technology allows."

Speaking to reporters a day later, the Prime Minister acknowledged that climate change was a contributing factor to the bushfires, "along with with many other factors".

He said Australia was "playing our role" as part of the "global challenge" of climate change.

Labor Shadow Minister for Climate Change Mark Butler said the report showed that Australia had now become an "international embarrassment".

"This Government is pathetic when it comes to climate action and Australia's lack of climate policy has become an international embarrassment," he said.