A party room meeting has been called for Sunday morning in Canberra, where members will be briefed on research into Australia's commitment to hitting net zero emissions by 2050.
Speaking before the talks, leader David Littleproud wouldn't confirm whether the Nationals would formally abandon climate targets, but heavily suggested the 2050 goal was off the table.
"We will have an alternative to continue to reduce emissions. It's just that net zero is not the only way to reduce emissions," he told Nine's Today Show on Sunday morning.
"(Australia is) about one and a half per cent of global emissions," he said.
"We shouldn't streak ahead, but we shouldn't be laggards."
On Saturday, Nationals party faithful voted to ditch net zero by 2050 from the regional party's official platform.
The vote is non-binding but widely seen as a prelude to Sunday's meeting.
If the Nationals do abandon official climate targets it would set up a potential showdown with their coalition partner the Liberals, who are also reviewing their approach to climate change after their disastrous election defeat.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley has said she does not want to pursue net zero at any cost but party sources say there is broad agreement internally that Australia must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in some way.
Mr Littleproud said he hoped the two parties could see eye-to-eye on the issue but argued the Nationals had been at the "epicentre" of the country's transition to green energy.
"Our communities have been torn up. Your food security has been torn up," he said.
Sunday's party room meeting will be informed by a Page Research Centre report commissioned by the Nationals.
Under the Paris Agreement signed a decade ago, Australia and other member states must increase their emissions reduction targets every five years and cannot water them down.
The Labor government is committed to net zero by 2050 and is chasing an interim target of 62 per cent to 70 per cent emissions cuts by 2035.
A target of 82 per cent of electricity sourced from renewables by 2030 is key to meeting climate its goals.
Households, the economy and the environment will all be hit hard by unchecked climate change, Australia's first National Climate Risk Assessment revealed in September.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the internal debate within the coalition as a "circus," and said Australia was particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
"It is in our national interest for there to be action to reduce our emissions and to act on climate change," he told Sky News.
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