The Australian economy lags behind its peers among the developed nations in readiness for less carbon emissions, according to the new global climate leadership review released Monday by the Climate Institute.

The country landed only in number 16 in the low-carbon competitiveness index for 2012, the institute said, bested even by the United States, Argentina, South Africa and Saudi Arabia as among the G20 nations deemed ill-prepared in focusing their economies on lesser fossil fuel consumption.

The report, which was completed in partnership with General Electric, has evaluated the developments so far registered by leading economies in attuning their activities in parallel to cleaner environment, the institute said.

France emerged as the top economy all geared for a greener environment, with the report citing the country's commendable indicators in almost every aspect of evaluation points.

The European economic powerhouse ranks the highest in clean energy production over the past 15 years, with its national policies largely successful in pushing for the least emissions-intensive export sector over the past decade.

France also registered low-levels of car ownership within the span of period cited in the index report, the institute said, and followed closely by fellow top performing nations namely Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Germany.

On the other hand, Australia as a mining-based economy, remains struggling to adopt measures that would push forward its aim for a cleaner environment but with an advanced economy at the same time.

"Australia has the lowest level of overall clean energy production, the second highest number of cars per capita and relatively high deforestation and emissions per capita from the transport sector," the report was quoted by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as saying.

"Australia is the worst performing advanced economy among the G20 ... it is the only country which has become less prepared for the low-carbon economy since 1995," the review added.

The latest review, however, noted that Australia came a bit late in the game while other global economies already spent some $260 billion as of 2011 as total investments in attaining clean energy, reflecting investment surge of about 42 percent from the previous year.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard had successfully gathered support for the Labor-led government's carbon pricing scheme, which will initiate on a fixed levy of $23 per tonne en route to a market-induced floating price under the planned emission trading scheme by 2015.

The measure takes effect July this year.

Hopefully, "the clean energy future package will begin to change our direction ... (while at the same time) investment, innovation and minimise the threats and maximise the benefits to our citizens in a world limiting pollution," the report said.

"For the first time Australia will have an absolute and ongoing limit placed on the carbon pollution we release into the air," the Climate Institute review stressed.