Bill emitters, says survey

A survey of public attitudes on what should be done about climate change, commissioned by the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, shows that answers vary widely depending on whether any associated costs to taxpayers are mentioned in the questions.

There was strong (77 per cent) support for the binary proposition that emitters rather than taxpayers should pay for emissions over the country's Kyoto Protocol target.

Only 3 per cent of respondents agreed with the policy that agricultural emissions should be entirely covered by the taxpayer for the next five years. A majority thought it should cover 40 per cent of their emissions or less.

They were even tougher on non-agricultural emitters, with a majority favouring free allocation to cover 20 per cent or less of emissions.

But respondents' views became less emphatic when they asked explicitly about emitters exposed to competition from overseas competitors not facing a price on carbon.

They were split 35 to 33 per cent on whether large emitters in that position should be protected by taxpayer-paid credits.

Among business decision makers - who made up a fifth of the overall sample population of 2851 - the split was 45 per cent for, 35 per cent against.

There was strong (64 per cent) support for the idea of a tax on imports from countries which do not price carbon (rising to 72 per cent among business people).

On the question of how best to put a price on emissions, the poll found a slight preference for a carbon tax over emissions trading (22 per cent versus 18 per cent) but the majority of respondents either did not know or had no preference.

There was strong support for transitional assistance to households to offset the impact on fuel and power costs caused by putting a price on emissions. More (49 per cent) thought it should go to all households than be targeted to low-income households (42 per cent).

Respondents were also asked about 19 different policy measures complementary to an emissions trading scheme.

No mention, however, was made of any associated cost to the taxpayer.

All but two received absolute majority support.

They were the mandatory phasing out of high-emissions heavy vehicles at least 10 years old and the mandatory phasing out of inefficient light bulbs.