At the end of the breakfast, attended by 1000 people, Senator Fielding spoke briefly with Mr Gore and said he would like a meeting.

The question bugging the senator, who holds a vital upper house vote, is why, if carbon dioxide is a major driver of climate change, atmospheric temperature has not been going up in the past 15 years as carbon dioxide has risen.

"We didn't get a chance to discuss that level of detail," Senator Fielding said.

Mr Gore had known who he was and said he had an important role, the senator said.

He told Mr Gore he would be happy to fly to Sydney for a meeting if a time could be found.

But last night he had not been able to make contact.

Senator Fielding has written to all senators urging them to take a close look at the science before voting on the emissions trading scheme next month.

He provides in the letter a chart making his point about rising carbon dioxide but steady atmospheric temperature.

Senator Fielding said in a statement it was incomprehensible that "we'll be voting for this scheme and going it alone before the rest of the world acts. Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong are hanging the Australian economy out to dry if the rest of the world doesn't follow suit."

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull is facing fresh problems on the climate issue, with Nationals senator Ron Boswell strongly opposing the Coalition supporting legislation for a 20 per cent renewable energy target by 2020.

Mr Turnbull wants the Liberals to try to own the issue of renewable energy.

But the leader of the Nationals in the Senate, Barnaby Joyce, said the Nationals had not yet reached a party position.

It was "hotly debated" within the Nationals, he said.