The federal government should rejig its upcoming budget to focus more on environmental policies in line with a new United Nations report on global sustainability, acting Australian Greens leader Christine Milne says.
A high-level UN panel on global sustainability overnight released a report recommending a cut in resource use, sustainable development and the establishment of several institutions to measure environmental progress.
Ms Milne said the report was about "green economics, that the planets have limits".
She noted one of the recommendations was for a price on carbon by 2020 and a cut in fossil fuel subsidies.
The top priority for Australia was to use the 2012/13 budget to "rejig" the economy, Senator Milne said.
The government had an opportunity to remove subsidies for fossil fuels, she added.
"It's around $8 billion a year that goes to fossil fuel subsidies," Senator Milne told reporters in Hobart on Tuesday.
"We should be getting rid of those for a start when we ramp up, at the same time, massive investment in renewable energies and energy efficiency."
Senator Milne also said a keynote speech on the economy later on Tuesday by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott should be judged against the UN report.
"Today Tony Abbott has his chance at the Press Club (in Canberra) for how Tony Abbott is going to make the Australian economy conform to what global leaders recognise as critical," she said.
"That is ecological sustainability and social justice."
Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd is a member of the UN panel.
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