The office of embattled Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor has refused to release information relating to an allegedly forged document he relied on to accuse City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore of hypocrisy on climate change.

In response to a Freedom of Information request filed by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Mr Taylor's senior adviser, Tim Neal, decided to release only four of 18 documents containing information about "the City of Sydney's travel expenditure" in full.

Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor faced intense pressure from the opposition last year. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The office refused to release one document consisting of "messages between the minister's office and an external third party", because it contained "sensitive business information". The unnamed third party, who was required to be consulted, put forward a "detailed case" arguing their correspondence with Mr Taylor's office should not be made public.

Making the third-party communications public "would not inform debate on a matter of public importance", Mr Neal decided, which is among the reasons he is allowed to consider in his role as an authorised decision maker under freedom of information laws.