Howard's announcement came just days after a major British report noted Australia had refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and warned of the dire economic consequences of inaction.
The funding includes almost 20 million Australian dollars for clean coal technology and 17.5 million dollars for renewable energy projects, including high-efficiency solar power stations and solar-enhanced transport fuels.
Some six million dollars were earmarked for projects to improve electricity efficiency in buildings and appliances, while 2.5 million dollars would go towards helping the aluminium industry cut emissions.
"The projects cover a range of areas including renewable energies, improving the environmental performance of fossil fuels, energy efficiency and best environmental practice in sectors such as coal mining and aluminium production," Howard said.
The prime minister and his Industry Minister, Ian Macfarlane, said a total of 42 projects would be developed in collaboration with five other countries in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP-6).
The group -- comprising Australia, India, Japan, China, South Korea and the US -- met for the first time in Sydney in January.
"The Asia-Pacific Partnership includes countries that represent about half of the world's emissions, energy use, GDP and population," Howard said.
"(It) is an important initiative that engages, for the first time, the key greenhouse-gas emitting countries in the Asia-Pacific region."
The announcement of the funding package adds to last week's unveiling of a 500-million-dollar drive to tackle climate change, including seed funds for projects such as the world's largest photovoltaic energy plant.
Howard said Tuesday, however, that Australia would refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, because it did not force major polluters such as India and China to cut their emissions.
Former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern said in a landmark report in Britain Monday the economic fallout of climate change could be on the scale of the two world wars and the Great Depression of the 1930s.