AUSTRALIA should go nuclear to combat greenhouse emissions from power stations, a Territory politician said yesterday.

Independent MLA Gerry Wood said the country should vigorously pursue renewable options, such as geothermal energy.

But he said the cleanest base source of energy at the moment was nuclear.

Mr Wood said the Territory did not have the population to justify the building of a nuclear power station. But he said the NT should "hook" into a national nuclear network.

The Nelson MLA said the federal and Territory governments were only "window dressing" over climate change if they did not look at the base power source in Australia.

Mr Wood was responding to the NT Government's climate change policy, which aims to phase out single-use plastic bags, introduce a container deposit scheme and lower greenhouses gases by 60 per cent by 2050.

He criticised the Government's push to restrict land clearing, saying land could be cleared sustainably for food production.