The Federal Government's central climate change policy appears to be in reverse, with its total carbon abatement going backwards over the past six months.

Key points: The Emissions Reduction Fund contracted 192 million tonnes of abatement, compared to 193 million tonnes during the last announcement

The Emissions Reduction Fund contracted 192 million tonnes of abatement, compared to 193 million tonnes during the last announcement In its latest results, the Clean Energy Regulator reveals it has signed just three new contracts

In its latest results, the Clean Energy Regulator reveals it has signed just three new contracts Five contracts failed over the same period and will not create abatement

On Thursday, the Government announced the results of the ninth auction under the Emissions Reduction Fund, soon to be rebranded the Climate Solutions Fund.

Commenting on the results, Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor said it was a "milestone".

"The ninth Emissions Reduction Fund auction marked an important milestone for the Government," he said.

"The Emissions Reduction Fund has successfully contracted 192 million tonnes of abatement and registered 780 projects."

But a look at the underlying data shows that is a backwards step from the last announcement, where 193 million tonnes of abatement had been contracted.

The Emissions Reduction Fund, established by the Abbott Government in 2014, mostly pays polluters to emit less greenhouse gas.

The Morrison Government has extended the program with an additional $2 billion and rebranded it the Climate Solutions Fund, continuing to make it the central plank of Australia's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Twice a year, the Clean Energy Regulator holds reverse auctions, where companies bid to win the emissions reduction work.

The cheapest good-quality bids are awarded Emissions Reduction Fund contracts.

Those contracts are for a range of projects, including stopping planned tree-clearing and installing energy efficient appliances.

On Thursday, the Clean Energy Regulator published the fund's latest results, revealing it had signed just three new contracts.

Mr Taylor blamed the Labor Party's election policy to abolish the fund for the poor results. ( ABC News: Jake Evans )

But over the same time, five contracts have failed, and will never create the abatement they were meant to.

Mr Taylor blamed the Labor Party's election policy to abolish the Emissions Reduction Fund for the poor result.

"This auction cycle ran over the election period — Labor took a policy of abolishing the ERF to the election, which constrained project development and auction registration," he said.

But ERF expert Tim Baxter, now a senior researcher at the Climate Council, said Labor's election policy would have had the opposite effect.

Labor's promises included forcing large emitters to buy offsets.

"If Labor had won, there would have been more activity in the offsets market, not less," Mr Baxter said.

"The market would have been expecting to sell to different people, but at higher volumes. The auction would have died, but not the offsets market."

'Emissions are increasing across the country'

Overall, the latest round of the auction signed three new contracts for avoided emissions, creating a total of 59,000 tonnes of carbon abatement.

Mr Taylor said the fund would now be topped up.

"As announced earlier this year, the Government will expand the Emissions Reduction Fund, with the new $2 billion Climate Solutions Fund," he said.

But Mr Baxter said the policy wasn't working.

"The Government's core policy to reduce emissions is failing," he said.

"Emissions are increasing across the country, and have increased every year for five straight years.

"This is the wrong direction. But the auction results from the latest Emissions Reduction Fund auction show that even on their own terms, with their own scheme, they are failing."

Opposition spokesman for Energy and Climate Change Mark Butler labelled the government's policy a "disaster".

"All they are doing is pouring $2 billion worth of taxpayers' money down the drain. The ERF was never anything but a fig leaf. Angus Taylor can't reduce emissions and won't tackle climate change," Mr Butler said.

Mr Butler labelled the government's policy a "disaster". ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )

John Connor, CEO of the Carbon Market Institute, said the auction result was "surprisingly small", but welcomed the investment it would bring.

"This auction will see the additional investment of $840,000 into climate action, with most of this going into regional communities, but it highlights the need for a reboot of Australia's climate policies," he said.

In June, an ABC investigation showed the emissions policy had stalled, with cumulative abatement virtually at a standstill.