Prime Minister John Howard said Kyoto was mere symbolism as it did not include major greenhouse emitters such as India, the US and China.

He said an alliance of the world's biggest polluters -- Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States -- called the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, offered a more practical way to fight climate change.

"Symbolism will not clean up the air, symbolism will not clean up greenhouse gas emissions, practical methods will. The thing that matters is doing things," Howard said.

Under the Asia-Pacific Partnership formed in 2005, Howard said Australia would spend A$60 million ($46 million) on 42 projects, such as solar and clean coal, which separates greenhouse gases from coal-fired power station emissions for disposal underground or in water.

The government last week said it would spend A$75 million on the world's largest solar power plant, which would start operating in 2013. Howard has also said nuclear energy may one day be an option for Australia.

Howard's announcement came a day after a British report warned that failure to tackle climate change could see the world economy facing a 1830s-style Depression.

Australia, along with the United States, refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol, aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, arguing it would unfairly impact the country's fossil fuel-reliant economy. Australia is the world's biggest coal exporter.

Howard said Kyoto favoured British and European interests.

"We have to be careful in what we do that we serve the interests of Australia. The interest of Europe and the interests of Australia are not the same," he said.