Most Californians won't support the state's ambitious efforts to fight global warming if they lead to sharply higher energy costs, according to a survey commissioned by a pro-business group.

Sixty-three per cent of 1,000 registered California voters surveyed this month said they supported the goal of cutting greenhouse gases, but that support fell to 47 per cent when the question included the likelihood of higher energy costs. "This is an example of when you add the potential costs of the potential solutions, voters are going to back off from their support of ideals," said Alex Evans, president of EMC Research, which conducted the survey. About 80 per cent of the respondents said they had not heard about California's landmark legislation passed in 2006 and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that mandates a cut of global warming gases to 1990 levels by 2020.