Some members of the government’s main climate change body are calling for brown coal power stations to be closed down.

Two top members of the Climate Change Authority have issued a dissenting report, saying the group’s official line does not go far enough.

They want a doubling of the target for carbon emission cuts and the closing-down of high-polluting brown coal power stations.

The dissidents - economist Clive Hamilton and climate scientist David Karoly - say the shutdown could be funded by a bidding process backed by a mandatory charge on other generators.

But the minority report is unlikely to find favour with the Federal Government, whose Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg last week was unenthused by a majority report from the Climate Change Authority that called for an emissions trading scheme to help meet 2030 targets.

The CCA board issued the majority report – which backed an emissions intensity trading scheme for the electricity sector be added to the existing Direct Action framework – to indicate its new outlook after its board was reformed late last year.

But the majority report has been criticised for framing its recommendations on what is politically possible, rather than what actually needs to be done.

“Overall we view the majority report as a recipe for further delay in responding to the urgent need to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions,” the minority report said.

“We regret that a consensus report has not been possible but feel that in good conscience we cannot lend our names to the majority report. After consideration, we have therefore decided to write a minority report.”

Professor Karoly has told Fairfax that the targets backed in the majority report “lacked credibility”.

“Even if Australia reduces its emissions by 28 per cent by 2030 as our current targets dictate, more than 90 per cent of Australia's current carbon budget will be used up by then,” he said.

“Put simply, the actions recommended in the report will not put Australia on a path to playing its role in limiting global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius”.

He said the CCA should keep its previous recommendation for a 40 to 60 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

The dissent report also calls the $2.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund a waste of money, and backs a cap and trade scheme.

The Business Council of Australia last week backed plans for an ETS, but the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) stopped short of formally supporting it.

MCA chief Brendan Pearson called the dissenting report a “childish dummy spit”

“There are good reasons why the Climate Change Authority rejected these proposals – they would drive the economy into the ground, destroy jobs across the country and as a result actually reduce public support for action to address climate change,” he told The Australian Financial Review.

“The CCA [majority] report is a good primer for a national policy discussion. The bottom line must be that we must keep energy affordable and reliable as we reduce our emissions footprint. The best way to do that is to adopt a technology neutral approach. No energy source should be ruled out, including new super-efficient coal plants and nuclear power.”