Isra-Mart srl :Carbon tax is economic self-harm: Abbott

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Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is sticking to his guns that he will "never" endorse Australia going it alone by putting a price on carbon, a stance supported by a new business survey.

Mr Abbott said on Friday that he will "never" put a price on carbon unless this becomes part of an enforceable international system.

"A go-it-alone carbon tax would be another act of economic self harm and it's the last thing Australia needs," Mr Abbott told Macquarie radio.

"The price of your power, the price of your petrol, the price of everything you do goes up under a carbon tax."

He also attacked the government for a change of heart having "emphatically ruled out a carbon tax pre-election".

"Now, apparently they're ruling it in. It just goes to show you can't trust these guys," he said.

A survey of 1000 business owners conducted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce of Industry (ACCI) found that 75 per cent oppose the unilateral adoption of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) or carbon tax.

"Calls for a carbon tax or ETS in the name of business certainty certainly don't represent the general view of business owners," the chamber's director of economics and industry policy, Greg Evans, said in releasing the survey results on Friday.

"The reality is business and consumers (would) face the prospect of a doubling of energy prices by 2015 with little global gain."

Mining giant BHP Billiton boss, Marius Kloppers, said this week that a carbon tax was inevitable and Australia needed to take a lead role on climate change.

AGL Energy chief executive Michael Fraser has also suggested Australia might adopt a staggered approach to climate change by introducing an emissions trading scheme that covered only power plants.

The Climate Institute welcomed such calls from big business, but hoped that this new season of political and business pragmatism would not feed staged solutions which would defer action across the whole economy.

"The pyrotechnics set off by a number of business leaders acknowledging the need for a price tag on carbon has been impressive," the institute's CEO John Connor said in a statement.

"But policy responses should ensure Australia's emissions are going down by 2013 and enable bi-partisan backed 2020 targets of up to 25 per cent reductions on 2000 levels."

The food and grocery industry joined in the debate saying it supports putting a price on carbon as long as it doesn't give any country a competitive edge over Australia.

Australian Food and Grocery Council chief executive Kate Carnell said implementing a national emission framework is complex and Australia needs to get it right.

"There must be a national consultative approach to a carbon tax without exposing industry to costs not faced by regional competitors," she said in a statement.

Australian Greens senator Christine Milne hopes the major parties will come around to the idea of a carbon tax through the government's promised climate committee, made up of experts and MPs from all sides of politics.

"The advantage of this committee with experts means that you can talk about what is right, what is wrong with that position, what would work, what would not work," she told ABC Radio.

"Out of that we hope to get a situation where we end up with a carbon price."