Australia will go to the Paris climate change summit with public backing to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions if it helps get a global deal, according to a new poll by the Lowy Institute.

The survey for the foreign affairs think-tank found 62 per cent of people backed Australia bolstering its emissions reduction targets in the interests of a reaching a global climate agreement – something nations hope to do at the two-week Paris summit starting Monday.

On the other side, only 36 per cent of respondents said Australia should stick to its current goals regardless of what other countries do.

Australia has pledged to cut its emissions by 26 to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by the end of the next decade, a target many environment groups have dubbed weak.

Countries' emissions targets will not be negotiated in Paris. Nations have been allowed to nominate their own goals before the conference, with negotiators in Paris instead focused on developing a review system to encourage higher ambition from countries over time.

Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt has said that the federal government would be willing to lift its 2030 climate goal in coming years if required under any review system.

Support for higher goals, but a split on how to get there

The Lowy Institute poll, which surveyed 1002 people in late October and early November, also found Australians were largely divided on what policy should be used to meet the targets.

Although 51 per cent backed retaining the Turnbull government's direct action scheme – which pays companies and farmers to make emissions cuts – 43 per cent supported the reintroduction of a carbon price.

Alex Oliver, who heads the Lowy Institute's polling program, described the level of support for carbon pricing surprising (even if lower than for direct action) given the heated political debate in recent year over the now repealed "carbon tax".

"While there is a majority who are in favour [of direct action], its a bare majority," she said.

Australia's top climate diplomat talks Paris before flying out

Meanwhile, Australia's lead negotiator for Paris, Peter Woolcott, told a business seminar in Melbourne there was reason for "cautious optimism" that the summit would deliver.

Mr Woolcott said Australian priorities for a Paris deal included: seeing all countries, especially major economies, sign-up to robust emissions reduction efforts, building in transparency and accountability to track progress on these efforts, and setting up a durable process to build action towards keeping global warming below two degrees.

Mr Woolcott said the real danger was not whether a new global climate agreement would emerge from Paris, but whether it would be minimal.

"If this is the outcome then much of what Australia wants, and I think what we need as a globe ... may be lost," he said.

Mr Woolcott said the biggest issues would be climate financing for developing countries and how the difference between rich and poor nations was reflected in a deal.

Reaching an agreement on climate financing to helping poorer nations cut emissions and prepare for the impact of climate change would ultimately be crucial to securing the participation of major developing countries in a legally-binding agreement, he said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and Mr Hunt will all represent Australia at different points during the negotiations. Mr Woolcott leads the team of diplomats that will do most of the nuts-and-bolts negotiating on the conference floor.

Mr Woolcott also said he expected brinkmanship between negotiators would continue right to the end of the Paris conference as the United Nations climate negotiations had a culture of blowing well past the scheduled end of meetings.

"We will see if the culture has changed and matured or not. I suspect not," he said.