Addressing a Pacific Islands Forum on Friday evening, Mr Morrison hinted his government could ditch the controversial plan to use Kyoto credits amassed before 2020.

"Today I can announce that Australia is very confident that we will now achieve our 2030 targets without the need to draw on our carry-over credits," he told the virtual forum.

Australia's emissions are now projected to be 29 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 compared with its Paris accord target of 26 per cent to 28 per cent.

But Labor climate change spokesman Mark Butler on Saturday accused the government of misrepresenting the data, saying Australia was only on track for a 22 per cent reduction by 2030.

He called for the government to commit to net zero emissions by 2050, as New Zealand has, and to work harder to meet the Paris target.

"The government's projections clearly show there will only be a reduction in emissions between 2020 and 2030 of less than seven per cent," Mr Butler said in a statement.

"At that rate, it will take 146 years to get to net zero emissions.

"Electricity is the only sector with considerable emissions reduction and that is due to state government policies and households choosing to install rooftop solar."

Pacific island nations have long called for Australia and New Zealand, as regional leaders, to do more on climate.

PIF's secretary-general Dame Meg Taylor also wants Australia to adopt the 2050 target and commit to phasing out fossil fuels.

She told ABC radio on Friday some smaller island nations were looking at technology to strengthen infrastructure and eyeballing China's controversial land reclamation activities in the disputed South China Sea.

Climate is a sensitive coalition policy area and Mr Morrison has beefed up his language on the perceived emissions credits.

"Those credits that have been earned have been earned by farmers investing in changes," he told reporters in Canberra earlier on Friday.

The forum comes days after the prime minister confirmed he would not speak at an online summit organised by the United Nations, the UK and France, a move Mr Butler said demonstrated Australia's "isolation" on climate policy.

More than 70 nations are speaking at the event, including China, which has recently committed to net zero emissions by 2060.

Last week, Mr Morrison was looking forward to taking part and saw it as a chance to talk up Australia's achievements.

Greenpeace Australia said it was embarrassing the prime minister wasn't speaking at the UN summit.

Australian Associated Press