Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has rebuked Tony Abbott for threatening to cross the floor of Parliament if any kind of clean energy target was pursued by the Turnbull government.

Mr Abbott spelt out his opposition to the one recommendation of the Finkel energy review that has not been embraced by the Coalition, saying it was "unconscionable for a government that was originally elected promising to abolish the carbon tax and to end Labor's climate obsessions to go further down this renewable path".

"There should be no subsidies for further solar and wind because this is inherently unreliable and, again I say, we've got to move away from all this talk of renewable targets and have a reliable energy target," Mr Abbott told Sky News on Tuesday night.

The former Liberal prime minister said several MPs had "extremely serious reservations" about the government's clean energy target.