A new report from left-leaning think tank The Australia Institute aims to challenge federal government claims that Australia's emissions are small on a global scale.
While Russia (12 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (nine per cent) have the biggest share of the world's fossil fuel exports, Australia is third with 6.8 per cent based on carbon emission potential.
Australian fossil fuel exports are comparable with those of the United States, which has 13 times the population and a gross domestic product that's 15 times bigger.
Indonesia, Canada, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Qatar export less fossil fuels than Australia.
Among developed economies, Australia is the biggest producer and exporter of fossil fuels based on CO2 potential, and second only behind oil-rich Norway on a per capita basis.
