In Washington for talks with senior US government officials, Federal Environment Minister David Kemp said the Climate Action Partnership with the United States was better suited to Australia's needs than the United Nation's Kyoto Protocol.

He said the joint projects would include investigations into cleaner coal technologies, carbon dioxide sequestration, ocean research projects, alternative fuel programs, business partnerships, and the establishment of programs in developing nations.

"There should be a very significant involvement of private enterprise companies in the partnership so we've agreed that later in the year, we will establish a workshop involving companies from both the United States and Australia to look at some of the technology issues," Dr Kemp said.