A climate trigger proposal to fix Australia's "broken" environmental laws has been introduced to federal parliament by the Greens.
The proposal bans the environmental approval of new fossil fuel developments that would emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon.
It also sets a threshold to require environmental assessments of projects that would emit between 25,000 and 100,000 tonnes of carbon in a year.
In deciding whether to approve those projects, the environment minister would need to consider if they are consistent with the national carbon budget and emissions reduction targets.
The climate trigger will address a "glaring gap" in current environmental laws that allows global heating to become worse, Greens leader Adam Bandt told parliament on Monday.
"We are in an emergency and the first thing to do in an emergency is to check to see if you can remove a danger, if you can stop what is causing the harm," he said.
"What is causing the harm is coal, oil and gas."
The proposed bill would stop the 114 new coal and gas projects in the pipeline from being built, Mr Bandt said.
Current laws allow the environment minister to approve a new mine or development without considering the impact of the pollution on climate change.
The only thing stopping the parliament from closing that climate loophole was the Labor Party, Mr Bandt said.
"Australia's leading role in extinction tells us that our environment laws are broken," he said.
"This glaring gap, as the now prime minister called it, can be fixed right now with this bill."
The proposal comes as the Senate gears up to debate the federal government's climate change laws to set a 43 per cent emissions reduction target, passed by the lower house last month.
Labor will need the support of all 12 Greens senators and one crossbencher to get its bill through parliament.
The Greens flagged their support for the climate laws last month.
But the government's proposed new laws will not end the climate wars if it keeps approving new oil and gas projects in Australia, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
"It is difficult to see how the Greens could support any environmental reforms that would allow the minister to continue to ignore emissions when granting approvals to large projects," she said.
