Australia's business leaders need to unite and throw their support on the initiative that would set a price on carbon and establish an emission trading scheme in the country as the head of a giant property company asserted that climate change should be a dominant agenda of both business and political leaders.

Lend Lease chief executive Rod Leaver said on Friday that setting a price on carbon would ensure the country is ready in facing future climate change issues as he added that while the country's political parties were scrambling to gain office, business leaders should take the opportunity to bat for the inclusion of the issue into the political and industrial concerns of the nation.

Chairing the National Business Leaders' Forum on Sustainable Development, Mr Leaver said that by introducing a carbon price, Australian business leaders would enjoy the security they need to invest and develop the economy.

He said that business leaders in the country need to "speak out and show their support for the introduction of an emissions trading scheme within the next year."

The NBLF under the helm of Mr Leaver is set to push for 23 major environmental reform proposals and chief among them is the group's call for a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions come 2020, with an aim to upgrade that to as much as 90 percent cut by 2050.

The Lend Lease chief said that he has been an ardent supporter of sustainable development, which he has sustained in managing the giant property firm, as he stressed that in order to insure success, the collaboration of Australian business leaders is a vital component of the agenda.