Hunt defends 'climate contrarian' Lomborg

The federal government has defended spending $4 million on a research centre featuring "climate contrarian" Bjorn Lomborg.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt says the University of Western Australia's new Australia Consensus Centre is not a global warming think tank, and Lomborg is simply providing a "best bang for your buck" perspective on climate change mitigation.

"Lomborg is actually an economist of international renown," Mr Hunt told Network Ten on Sunday.