Turnbull named as the federal government’s new chief scientist Alan Finkel, who wants Australia to one day stop using oil, gas and coal, but backs nuclear in the country’s energy mix going forward.

In an intriguing play barely a month away from the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP21) climate summit in Paris, Finkel was yesterday named as the government’s man to be Australia’s “champion” of science, research and the role of evidence in the community and in government.

He will replace Professor Ian Chubb, whose term ends in December having started in May 2011.

“My vision is for a country, a society, a world where we don't use any coal, oil, or natural gas because we have zero-emissions electricity in huge abundance,” Dr Finkel said. “But you can't get there overnight.

“It’s critically important that we reduce our emissions. The best way to do that is zero emission energy options.

“Solar is a great option if we can solve the problem of storage. If we can increase the volume and lower the price point of storage, solar becomes massively viable, so does wind.”

It was at this point that Turnbull stepped in to remind journos at the press conference that Australia would still rely on export coal for the foreseeable future, adding that if Australia stopped exporting coal tomorrow, it would have no impact on global emissions.

“If we stopped [exporting coal], the countries buying would just buy it from somewhere else,” Turnbull said.

“China – which by recollection is the largest coal producer in the world – is likely to become a net coal exporter itself. There is a lot of coal around. If Australia is to stop all of its coal exports, it wouldn’t reduce carbon emissions.”

As the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission investigates “opportunities and risks” for South Australia ahead of delivering its findings next year, Finkel also flagged nuclear as a possible solution to lowering Australia’s emissions.

In doing so he distanced himself from environmentalists who want the country powered purely by renewables.

"It's something that absolutely should be considered for a low emissions or a zero emissions future, but it's not the only way forward," Finkel said, adding that nuclear did have “issues”.

"With enough storage we could do it in this country with solar and wind."

However, he put the brakes on any excitement over nuclear, saying Australia did not yet have the infrastructure or training to enable the industry to be viable.

Still, he said, "it's not unreasonable to look at all viable alternatives”

Turnbull, who was present at the press conference, told reporters that his government would adopt "whatever energy mix is appropriate", but conceded cost and environmental concerns swirling around the industry.

Turnbull then poured cold water on this bullish outlook for solar, saying solar panels and batteries in an Australian household context were “probably not in most cases competitive” with grid delivery power.

“However, if you are in a remote community in a developing country with no grid … solar panels could be cost effective,” he added.

“It’s horses for courses – we need to take the ideology out of this and approach it in a cool-headed and rational way.”

Turnbull also backed new resources minister Josh Frydenberg’s line that coal was key to alleviating poverty in developing economies.

He dismissed calls in an open letter by 61 “prominent Australians” including ex-Climate Change Authority head Bernie Fraser for a moratorium on coal mining, saying international forecasting agencies’ data proved coal would not be going anywhere as a key global energy source for a long while yet.

"Coal is a very important part, a very large part, the largest single part in fact, of the global energy mix – and likely to remain that way for a very long time," Turnbull said.

“You've got to remember that energy poverty is one of the big limits on global development in terms of achieving all of the development goals."