Emitters should pay for greenhouse gas emissions - survey

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Voters think business should pay for their emissions, a new survey shows.

The ShapeNZ online survey, commissioned by the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, is based on 2118 responses between October 21 and 28.

It asks what voters think of the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS).

The ETS seeks to limit emissions, which New Zealand is required to do under international agreements, by putting a price on carbon.

Eventually all sectors of the economy will come under it, starting with industry, energy and transport in July next year.

Agriculture will come under it in 2015, two years later than under the original ETS.

It is a less rigorous scheme than the one introduced by the previous government and will halve the cost to consumers of power and petrol price rises.

Critics say taxpayers will subsidise polluters to a greater extent during a transition period. The Government disputes there is a subsidy, saying the money is not coming from the taxpayer.

The survey found 44 percent of respondents thought New Zealand should lead with its response to climate change while 36 percent thought it should move at the same pace as other countries, 40 percent said New Zealand was moving at the same pace as other countries.

Asked who should pay for emissions, 82 percent said emitters should.

The same percentage of National voters thought emitters should pay in proportion to their emissions. That rose to 91 percent for Maori Party voters - that party is supporting the ETS bill through to select committee.

National voters supported the delay of agriculture coming into the scheme - 49 percent to 31 percent. For Maori Party voters the results were reversed.

Nearly half National voters and 75 percent of Maori Party voters opposed extending free emission credits assistance to large emitters.

Only 28 percent of National voters supported a cap on the price of emissions while 40 percent thought the internationally set price should apply. For Maori Party voters the respective results were 14 percent and 75 percent.

National voters were fairly evenly split on the proposal to allow emissions to increase through extra production, but Maori Party voters strongly opposed that.

On phasing out assistance for emitters 14 percent of National voters thought it should continue for five years after a price on emissions was imposed; 30 percent said it should be phased out in two to four years and 29 percent in one year. For Maori Party voters the figures were 6 percent (five years); 32 percent (two to four years) and 46 percent (one year).

Neither National (90 percent) nor Maori Party voters (59 percent) thought special arrangements should be made for Maori forestry assets.

The weighted survey had a margin of error of 2.1 percent. The respondents are members of a selected panel of 14,000 designed to represent the national population as of the 1996 census.

- NZPA