Households willingness to pay for the emissions reduction policy, Queensland, Australia

This study examines households’ willingness to support the emissions reduction policy by paying extra on their electricity bills and their perceptions of climate change using an internet survey of over 1,000 households in Queensland, Australia. The results showed that respondents’ willingness to pay to support the emissions reduction target is higher if they perceive that climate change will result in high loss of biodiversity. Respondents were willing to support a higher emissions target than proposed by the Government. There is a correlation between respondents willingness to pay to support the emissions reduction and their beliefs about climate change, its effect on standards of living, the environment and future generations. Finally, the zero bids were further investigated using the non parametric Turnbull model and the more recent Spike model.The results showed that the level of support for the emissions reduction policy is not sufficient for the policy to be successful.