Climate change bill: Senators David Pocock, Jacqui Lambie, Tammy Tyrrell form alliance

While supporting in-principle Labor's bill to enshrine the 2030 and 2050 emissions reduction targets, the three crossbenchers have warned they won't be a Senate "rubber stamp" and they want "sensible amendments" to bring in greater transparency and accountability.

Saying if "you can't measure it, you can't change it", they want a carbon impact assessment applied to future federal budgets to show how billions of dollars worth of government spending and financial assistance impacts on the Earth's climate.

Senator Pocock, the independent ACT representative, told Australian Community Media, publisher of this masthead, he was not holding the government to "ransom", but was pushing for the best possible outcome for this bill, and any future bills.

"Well, I'm not there to be a rubber stamp for the government or the Greens," he said.

"I think there's some really sensible ways that this can be strengthened and I've been having conversations with the crossbench and Senate about how that can be done."

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Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie indicated she was not for turning.

"Dave's got sensible amendments to make Labor's climate bill better," she said.

"He's right that we should expect federal politicians to lay down their cards and show us how their policies will get us closer towards our climate target. Tammy and I are with him 100 per cent on this one."

Senator Pocock was also concerned about the Emissions Reduction Fund, in particular two Australian Carbon Credit Unit 'methods' established in the final days of the Morrison government. While now under review, he said action was urgently needed - possibly through a disallowance motion - to ensure integrity in how carbon credits were generated.

"I'm obviously very open to working with the government to see the best way to do this," he said.

"There is a desire for more transparency, more integrity, more accountability from government. So if we're going to legislate this, let's do it with those things."

It comes after the Greens agreed to back the climate bill in both the House and the Senate as "round one" while vowing to ramp up the fight to stop new coal and gas projects. The government also embraced support and seven different amendments from the teal independents and Greens in the House despite not needing their vote.

The carbon impact assessment proposal, which has been discussed with Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, would look at the federal budget through an emissions lens.

"We know from having a budget that does have a gender component to it - a gender-responsive budgeting. You get much better outcomes when you're actually looking at a budget through the lens of, 'Well, how's this affecting women'?" Senator Pocock told ACM.

"I think if we're going to commit to climate action, we should be looking at our budget and saying, 'OK, well, how does this budget square with this future that we've just agreed to legislate on'?"

Apart from the 43 per cent by 2030 emissions reduction target and the 2050 target, Labor's bill would task the Climate Change Authority with providing advice on future goals and require the minister to make an annual progress statement in Parliament.

Senator Pocock, who this week stated he wanted to be the "peacebroker in the 47th Parliament" and wanted to win the climate wars, wants the targets legislated.

"We're taking Mr Bowen on his word to be open to sensible amendments," he said.

"Clearly, during the election, some will say, was the climate election, you could also argue it was the integrity election."

The Climate Change Minister declared he was looking forward to the passage of the bill through the Senate when Parliament resumed in September.

"As we've said, the passage of this bill sends a message to investors in renewable energy, transmission and storage around the world that Australia is open for business to become a renewable energy powerhouse," Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney.

"But also, as we've said, this is not the end of the work. There is much, much more to do and Australia has a lot of catching up to do on 10 years of delay, denial and dysfunction."

Mr Bowen on Friday moved to endorse potential renewable energy projects, notably the promise of greater offshore wind power generation.

The government has started the process of declaring the Bass Strait off Gippsland a renewable energy zone. Other locations pinpointed for offshore wind energy include parts of the Pacific near the Hunter and the Illawarra, the Southern Ocean near Portland, parts of the Bass Strait near northern Tasmania and the Indian Ocean near Perth and Bunbury.