Survey: Almost 60% of US Manufacturing Senior Executives Oppose Cap-and-Trade

17 July 2009

Nearly six in ten US manufacturing senior executives (59%) oppose a cap-and-trade program such as that proposed in the Waxman-Markey bill, according to a recent survey by CPA firm Baker Tilly and KRC Research.

Support for cap-and-trade. Click to enlarge.

Opposition increases the more familiar executives are with cap-and-trade. Legislative support increases among executives who are optimistic about the outlook for the US economy and manufacturing sector, and invest in green programs.

41% of executives strongly oppose such a program, while 7% strongly support it.

Half of manufacturing executives, more so among executives from large companies, are at least somewhat familiar with cap-and-trade legislation, the survey found. Executives from medium and large companies are more familiar with the legislation than small companies (62% vs. 49%).

Other findings of the survey:

• Slightly more than four and ten (42%) manufacturing executives believe a cap-and-trade system would place them at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace.

• Four in ten executives (40%) support an international cap-and-trade program as compared with one in three for a US program. More than one fourth (28%) of executives who initially opposed cap-and-trade said overseas adoption would make them more likely to support the legislation.

• If energy costs increase under a cap-and-trade system, the most common response would be to pass on costs to their customers (82%), followed by delaying new capital investments (70%).

KRC Research conducted a national telephone survey of 300 senior executives of US manufacturing companies between 2-22 June 2009. The sample was stratified to include sufficient interviews to analyze results between executives from small (n=148), medium (n=81) and large manufacturers (n=71). The sizing of each company was based on the number of employees; small companies have fewer than 100 employees, medium companies have 100 to 299 employees and large companies have 300 or more employees. Overall results were weighted to reflect the actual proportion of manufacturers of each size in the United States. The estimated margin of error is ±5.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.