Sussan Ley is being warned by moderate Liberals against dumping a net-zero commitment as internal rifts tear at the coalition's seams.
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Party members will meet in the next fortnight to finalise their emissions policy after the Nationals ploughed ahead with ditching the target.
Speculation is mounting Ms Ley will follow suit as more of her conservative leadership team disavow the commitment and backbenchers call for policy certainty in a damaging public debate.
Before coalition MPs met on Tuesday, moderate Liberals had urged the opposition leader to retain support for net zero in some form.
"The Liberal Party is not National Party-lite," Liberal frontbencher Tim Wilson told Sky News.
"You need to stand up as a leader of the party, for the Liberal Party, and for its right to make its own decisions and to stand on its own two feet."
He praised Ms Ley for standing her ground earlier in the year when she fended off the Nationals' energy policy demands, which resulted in a brief split in the coalition.
Leading moderate Andrew Bragg agreed it was important for the coalition to stick together, but not at the cost of walking away from international climate obligations such as the Paris Agreement, which calls for net zero in the second half of the century, rather than 2050.
"I don't see how we can walk away from our commitment to reduce emissions," Senator Bragg told ABC News.
"We would be a pariah state."
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen scoffed at Senator Bragg's suggestion the net-zero 2050 time frame could be delayed, saying the deadline was not political but reflected a need to prevent environmental catastrophe.
"It's a scientific requirement agreed by 97 per cent of the world's scientists," he told reporters in Canberra.
"This is part of the reach back into science denialism that's happening under this apparently modern Liberal Party that shows they are just out of touch with the demands of modern Australia."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admonished the coalition's position and said they have "torn themselves apart before, and they're doing it again".
"Even if someone was sceptical about climate change, it would still make sense to invest in renewables storage," he said.
Barnaby Joyce has credited himself and fellow Nationals MP Matt Canavan for the coalition sitting on the brink of dumping or altering its net-zero pledge.
"We've just moved the whole agenda to exactly where I want it to be," the former party leader said.
"It's almost like I've done this before."
Mr Joyce said he was vastly happier with the position, but would keep his cards close to his chest on whether he would defect to right-wing minor party One Nation.
Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh said Australians want the coalition to get its act together and it was possible to reach a united energy policy.
Senior Nationals have flagged that any mention of net zero would be rejected, making a compromise with Liberal moderates even harder.
One analyst said a political divorce between the two parties might be needed to save the coalition from damaging infighting over the internally divisive policy.
"They would be able to get their houses in order and they'd be able to consider whether they wanted to come back as a coalition before the next election," Monash University head of politics Zareh Ghazarian told AAP.
Australian Associated Press
