Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday said the country would establish a A$1 billion (S$1.03 billion) clean-energy innovation fund, in a major departure from his predecessor's much maligned approach to combating climate change. Former conservative prime minister Tony Abbott was criticised by environmental groups for his failure to support renewable energy, preferring to support the polluting coal sector. Mr Turnbull said the new fund would focus on investing in high-tech clean energy technologies. "What that is going to do is every year invest A$100 million in the smartest, most cutting-edge Australian clean-energy technologies and businesses to ensure that we... play our part in cracking the very hard problems, the challenging technical difficulties that we face in terms of reducing emissions," he told reporters.