How much do people know and what do they think about the government proposals?

With emissions and agricultural greenhouses gases a huge topic at the moment, we tested levels of public knowledge on some of the specifics.

Awareness of carbon offsetting and the Emissions Trading Scheme are relatively high, especially compared to awareness of sequestration and long and short-lived gases.

Those who had heard of short and long-lived gases struggled to attribute the three big agricultural gases to the right category, though the majority did get it right.

Only 26% stated that they support a tax on greenhouse gas emissions for farmers and growers. In comparison, 55% would support a tax on industrial activities.

Awareness of the actual government proposals to tax agricultural greenhouse gas emissions is low. A third had not heard of them and only 5% said they knew about them in detail.

We tested perceptions of some of the specifics of those proposals. In each case, high proportions stating don’t know show a low the level of engagement with the issues amongst the general public.

Research First are the rural insights specialists. If you have a question you want to know the answer to, get in touch with Liz: liz@researchfirst.co.nz